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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Starving on a Bed of Gold 



OR 



The World's Longest Fast 



BY 

JAMES A. HALL 

WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA 



Press of the 

Sentinel, Santa CruZ, California 

1909 






COPYRIGHT, 1939, 
BY JAMES A. HALL. 
{All Rights Reserved .) 



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LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoD'es KfCKived 

JUN 10 ittuy 



tLAsa A J^xt NO, 




James A. Hall on July 17th. 1900 



PREFACE. 

All of tliis l)ook, except Chapter VT, was written while T wa? 
imprisoned in bleak Alaska. Time hung heavily on my hands 
and dnring the long snnless days of winter it was a great relief 
to me to have something to occupy my time. It was generally 
known among the miners that I was writing the story of my 
experience and I had hundreds of applications for the little 
volume, even before I left the country. On my arrival in 
California, some of the largest dailies on the Pacitic Coast }nade 
full page Sunday stories of the matter, and incidentally men- 
tioned that I had written a book on the subject. 

Several ministers have used the facts to illustrate their 
sermons. All this publicity has caused many applications to 
be made to me for the book when published. This constant 
demand is my excuse for giving it to the i)ul)lic. 

JAMES A. HALL. 

Watsonville, (Ailifornia, Feb. 22nd, 1909. 



DEDICATION. 

I would be ungrateful if I did not dedicate this little volume 
to Judge Charles Udell, formerly of Los Angeles, California, the 
man who more than all others, rendered me aid and assistance, 
after I was rescued, though I had never met him until I went 
to Alaska. 

May God, in his mercy and justice, bless and prosper him. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE START 

I was sitting in" ni}^ law office in San Francisco, one afternoon 
in the early part of March, 1900, when my clerk brought me in 
the card of one of the surgeons connected with the City Receiv- 
ing Hospital. 

The doctor was a frequent caller, and after some conversa- 
tion on commonplace subjects, informed me he had the gold 
fever, was going to Alaska, and wanted me to go along. I 
told him I could not go, that I did not think I could stand the 
hardships of that kind of life. Finally, after some days of 
consideration, I agreed to take the trip. 

We engaged passage on the Thrasher, one of the many vessels 
belonging to the Pacific Steam AVhaling Company. It was 
advertised to sail on the 21st of April. I then invited the 
doctor to spend a week or so with me at Eose Hill, my father's 
ranch near Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, California. 

After a pleasant visit we returned to San Francisco, and 
began active preparations for the long, dangerous journey. I 
had never been outside of California in my life, had never even 
been in a half inch of snow, and was now preparing to start 
to one of the bleakest, coldest and most barren countries in the 
world. 

Finally the sailing day of the Thrasher came. She was a1)out 
the first steamboat to start for the gold fields in the spring of 
1900, and was a converted whaler. Like the fish after which 
she was named, she had killed many whales in her day. The 
boat had one great advantage over the ordinary passenger 
vessel — she was an '^ice bucker"; her prow was ten or twelve 
feet thick and sheathed on the outside, so she could safely ram 
the ice. A new deck had been built on forward and the 'tween 
decks was filled with tiers of bunks, leaving just room for the 
dining table. Over two hundred souls were to be transported on 
a ship that would not comfortably carry-half that number. But 



8 STARVING OX A BED OF GOLD 

as every additional i)assenger meant one liuudred and twenty- 
five dollars to her owners, the old saying, "There is always 
room for one more, ' ' was applied with vigor. 

Promptly at tliree o'clock in the afternoon the warning- 
whistle sounded, and then many sad partings were witnessed 
between relatives and friends. "Au Revoir," (till we meet 
again), are hard words to say under these circumstances, but 
Avitli many a poor unfortunate the Saxon words, ''Goodbye," 
were more appropriate. It has been said that a metallic casket 
is a necessary part of every well selected outfit — if you do not 
need it yourself, you can always sell it for a good price. There 
was certainly a great demand for them the winter I spent in 
Alaska. Very few^ relatives or friends will allow the bones of 
their loved ones to rest in the bleak mountains of a country 
like this, if they can help it. 

At last the starting whistle blew, the gang plank was drawn 
in, and we were under way to the celebrated gold fields. 

The thoughts and feelings that possess the average passenger 
starting on a dangerous trip as he looks, perhaps, for the lasi 
time, upon the faces of loved relatives and friends, can never 
be told in words. If the reader has ever had the experience, 
the sentiment will be fully understood. 

As we passed through the beautiful Golden Gate into the 
arms of the grim old ocean, a flood of thoughts came over me. 
I realized that my dangers would be many, but fully intended 
to return in the fall and not brave the terrors of an Arctic 
winter. But "man proposes and God disposes." I was com- 
])elled, much against my will, to remain foi' a year and a half 
in the land of the Eskimo. 

Old Neptune was in a bad humor the day we started and we 
glided out of the comparatively smooth waters of San Francisco 
Bay into a terrific storm. In less than half an hour every 
l)assenger on board, except about six of us, was in his bunk, 
groaning from seasickness. The attendance at the dining 
table was, for several days, very slight. 

Every shipload of people, like every town or city, contains 
its "characters". We were no exception to the rule. The 
most noted ])erson on board was, probal)ly, Sergeant AVright, 
the color officer of the regiment of Rough Riders who fought so 
bravely at San Juan and other battlefields, in the late Spanish 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 9 

War. The Sergeant planted Old (jlory on San Jnan Hill. I 
chanced to have, among my books, a magazine that contained 
his picture and a full history of his many acts of bravery. He 
was easily the lion of the voyage. Tall, slim and wiry, with 
dark hair and eyes, he looked the typical Rough Rider that he 
was. The Sergeant was a good conversationalist, and after his 
seasickness wore off, used to interest us by the hour with tales 
of the war. He was very sparing in the use of the capital "I," 
but could not sing the praises of Colonel Roosevelt and his 
gallant band too loudly. 

The comical character of the boat was ' ' Ike, ' ' a young Jewish 
gold hunter. Ike was alwaj^s in some trouble. He knew the 
location of everj^ whisky bottle on board, and, although not a 
heavy drinker, was never at a loss for a taste when he wanted 
it. He was one of a party of six from Tacoma, Washington. 
' ' Deep Creek Jones, ' ' the head of the little company, was him- 
self a man with a State reputation. He had been for some 
years the chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee 
of that State, and was a fluent talker and polished gentleman. 
He was one of the favorites of the ship, 

"Murphy" was among the fun makers of the voyage. He 
was a son of the late Judge Murphy of Del Norte County, Cali- 
fornia, a big, raw-boned boy, good natured and good hearted; 
his pranks served to while away many weary hours for us. 

"Dad" Trenchel was another of the ship's wits. He had in 
his company two young men. If "Dad" had not been partic- 
ularly good natured, life would have been a burden because of 
the numerous pranks they played on him, but he generally paid 
them back in their own coin, much to our amusement. 

A young San Franciscan named McGinniss was one of 
the greatest fun makers on board. His innocent pranks helped 
to shorten many hours of the long, dreary trip. At an enter- 
tainment of ours, one evening, McGinniss was called upon to do 
something for our amusement. He said he would try to relate 
a little incident that happened to him and his friend. Murphy. 
It occurred a week or so ago before he started on this trip. 
Murphy lived on top of Telegraph Hill, in San Francisco. 
They had been spending Saturday evening together, and Mc- 
Ginniss had gone home with him to stay all night. The next 
mornino- at eleven o'clock tliev were having a late Ijreakfast to- 



10 STARVING ON A BED OP GOLD 

getlier, when a rap came at the dining room door. Murphy 
said "come in," and in walked an Italian fish peddler with a 
big basket of fish on his shoulders. "You likee buy fish, 
Mister; uicea fresha fish; he no dead yet, just catcha him; heapa 
cheap." Murphy was not feeling very well that morning, and 
he told the fishman, in very plain terms, not to bother them 
with his fish, but the fellow was so persistent that Murphy had 
to almost throw him out. The day was a hot one, and the grade 
of the hill was very steep. After the Italian had been gone for 
a few moments a happy thought struck Murphy; going out on 
the porch he put his hand to the side of his mouth and yelling 
as loud as he could, succeeded in attracting the attention of the 
fishmonger; he then beckoned him to come back. The fellow, 
no doubt, had visions of a big sale, and toiled up the hill again 
with his heavy basket on his shoulders, large drops of perspira- 
tion rolling off him; finally nearly tired out, he arrived at 
Murphy's. Murphy, shaking his index finger at him, said: 
"And see here, you Dago, we don't want any fish next Sunday; 
do you understand?" McGinniss said he had all he could do 
to keep the fellow from braining Murphy then and there. 

The heavy storm that was awaiting us as we passed out of 
the Golden Gat^ continued to increase, and you can safely sur- 
mise that this change was not at all welcome to those poor souls 
who were suffering with "mal de mer. " Night came on and 
the staunch old boat was tossed about like a straw. Tons of 
water came down the hatchways, and through the seams of the 
boat, and was a foot deep, in some places, under our bunks. 
The lights had been turned out, and dismal darkness reigned 
supreme. About three o'clock in the morning, one of the life 
boats washed away, and, as it fell from the davits, one end of 
it struck the side of the ship, making a noise that sounded like 
the crack of doom. A poor fellow on the port side of the ship, 
just under where the boat struck, imagined that the judgment 
day had come, and yelled at the top of his voice, "Gome over 
to this side, all j^ou fellows ; the ship 's going over. ' ' Word was 
passed from bunk to bunk that the vessel had sprung a bad 
leak, and that we were trying to make port again; this turned 
out to be a false rumor. When daylight came, we found a 
rough sea and a laboring ship, but were assured by the captain 
that there was little or no danger. This was a great relief to 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 11 

most of US. We had already learned to have a great deal ol 
faith ill noble Tom Ellis, the acting captain; he Avas the 
favorite of the whole shi[)load of passengers. 

We who had left loved ones at home, were afraid that the 
life boat would be washed ashore and found, thus causing our 
friends and relatives to think we were lost at sea. Our fears 
were not unfounded for when we got to Dutch Harbor we 
learned that we had been reported wrecked. The storm linally 
calmed, but we were buffeted by adverse winds, and driven in 
the opposite direction to our true course. 

A few nights afterward another storm struck us, and we lost 
a second life boat. When, at last, fair weather did put in an 
appearance those who had been so seasick gradually recovered, 
and we all began to get better acquainted. I will never forget 
the first general assembly of passengers on the after-deck in 
the evening. A male quartette got together and the first song 
they sang brought back to me a flood of recollections. It was 
' ' The Old Oaken Bucket, ' ' a song that my mother had sung to 
me when a child, and also one of the last songs some friends of 
mine had sung before I left ' ' the States, ' ' 

After the storms were over, and the passengers had recovered 
from their seasickness, we spent most of the day and early 
evening on the after-deck telling stories, planning our mining 
future, and entertaining ourselves generally. Long before we 
reached Dutch Harbor, the first and only stopping point ere we 
arrived at Nome, bets were being made among the passengers 
on the time it would take us to get there; one lost three hundred 
dollars on the ship's sailing time to that point. Finally, on 
May 17th, we arrived at that port. It was my first experience 
in the snow. I had lived nearly all my life in Santa Cruz and 
Monterey Counties in California, and had never been, as before 
said, in a half inch of snow. 

There is an old Russian settlement at Dutch Harbor, and it 
is principally populated by Aleut Indians and their dogs. 
There are a few white men in business there, but half breeds 
and full blooded Aleuts are in the majority. This was the first 
of Indian semi-civilization that many of us had seen. They 
gave a squaw dance the night we were there, but I did not 
attend. I was told that it was conducted very much like a 
leap-year party in "the States." The women chose their 
partners. 



12 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

The Barabaras, or native Alent house is nothing- but a rock 
or wooden frame with some kind of hide, generally walrus, 
sti'etched over it; every well built house has a bath attachment. 
The bath house contains a pool of water, a kind of fireplace and 
some rocks. They heat the rocks red hot, and throw them into 
the pool; a dense steam is thus generated. When the bather is 
well heated up and thoroughly steamed he plunges into the near- 
est ice water for a few moments. They claim this will cure most 
diseases, and it certainly seems very effective in some cases. 
His northei-n neighbor, the Eskimo, never takes a bath unless 
he falls in while after the festive walrus or seal. 

AVe were told at Dutch Harbor that we would find the ice 
about five hundred miles out — and we did. We struck it in 
the night time. Next morning when we arose nothing but snow- 
covered fields of ice were visible as far as the eye could reach. It 
was a pleasant change for a time but soon became very monoto- 
nous. I was almost asleep when we "bucked the first ice, ' ' and 
had a half formed idea in my mind that we had run aground, 
l)ut when we began backing off, and then taking a rapid pace 
ahead I realized our position. The Thrasher is said to be the 
best "ice bucker" on the coast; she will back a quarter of a 
inile or so, then, with full speed ahead, strike the solid ice 
cracking it in twain, and going as far as her impetus will carry 
her. Then she will repeat the operation until a passage is 
made. The "ice captain," in this case our acting captain, is 
located in the "crow's nest" near the top of the foremast. 
He can see from his elevation the best path to pursue, and 
gives his commands to one of the mates, who is situated in the 
fi'ont of the wheel house; the mate repeats the command to the 
man at the wheel. About one-third of the thickness of the ice 
is above the water line and two-thirds below, so the captain 
easil}' estimates how heavy the ice is ahead of him. There 
were very few people on the boat who had ever seen "ice 
bucking" before, and it was an interesting experience to us all, 
at first, but soon became very tiresome. We met with a some- 
what stirring incident after we had been in the ice fields a few 
days. The ice ahead of us seemed to be unusually heavy, and 
Captain Ellis decided to tie up to some "ground ice" near where 
we were, and wait until prospects were better. "Ground ice, " as 
the name implies, extends down to the ground. The piece we 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 13 

tied to was several acres in extent, and in places was forty or 
fifty feet liigli, an ice island as it were. Two heavy hawsers were 
thrown ont, and tied to immense pillars of ice. There were a 
couple of acres of level ice, and as soon as the boat was made 
fast we all climbed out, glad of the chance to exercise a little, 
after weeks of confinement. We had "tugs of war," played 
"prisoner's base," and in fact, behaved like a lot of school 
children just turned out for recess. We all got back on the boat 
before dark and retired, feeling much better for our exercise. 
When we awoke in the morning quite a heavy wind was blow- 
ing; several passengers, although cautioned by Captain Ellis, 
went off on the island again. The wind increased in fury, and 
the ice mountains ])egan to break and slide, with a noise like 
thunder, into the sea. All but two of the passengers got back 
into the boat as soon as they saw the ice beginning to break. 
These two had taken their guns in the hope of shooting a 
walrus or seal, and had wandered to the opposite side of the 
island. We all beckoned to them to return at once, and the 
captain blew a number of warning blasts. They ran for the 
ship, and by throwing them ropes we managed to get them 
aboard, frightened half to death. The wind became a hurri- 
cane and mountains of ice were breaking off all around us, and 
lashed by the fury of the sea, were making every moment more 
dangerous. One of the hawsers had parted, Init still the cap- 
tain dreaded to undertake the run for the clear water we could 
see about half a mile off, on the side of the island that the wind 
was blowing toward. Finally, it became apparent that to stay 
in this position an\' longer, meant that our ship would be 
crushed like an egg shell. All was excitement aboard; passen- 
gers were rushing hither and thither; some ten or fifteen had 
gotten hold of a large spar, and were attempting to push away 
the icebergs that caftie near us. Twenty Samsons would not 
have moved one of them. Captain Humphries, and acting 
Captain Ellis were on the bridge, and we could plainly see that 
both were very nervous. In a few moments we beheld two 
immense icebergs approaching, one on each side of tUe 
Thrasher^ — the one on the lee side of the ship having broken 
from the island within a few feet of us it was plain that if they 
both struck us at once we were gone. Just then Captain Ellis, 
his voice sounding above the roar of the storm, yelled, "Cut 



14 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

away that rope. ' ' The first mate seized an ax and cut the rope ; 
the wheels began to turn and, in a few moments, we were 
threading onr way among the icebergs for clear water. For- 
tune favored us, and in a short time we w^ere out of danger, 
with no damage but the loss of about a hundred dollars' worth 
of rope. 

One of tlie passengers, when the excitement was at its height, 
rushed on deck with a six-shooter in one hand and his grip in 
the other, while his face was the color of marble. We asked him 
afterward what he had intended to do; he said he knew there 
were not half enough life boats to go around, and he proposed 
to have a seat in one. He did not stop to think that a life boat 
would not have lived a minute in that sea of icebergs. The 
poor fellow did not hear the last of it during the rest of the 
trip. We had some good artists aboard, and his picture, with 
a gun in one hand and the grip in the other, adorned several 
bunks. 

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and on May 28th we 
dropped anchor in Nome harbor, and the much talked of Mecca 
of the gold seeker was before us. A feeling akin to awe came 
over me as I gazed at this tented city through the gloaming of 
the evening. I was reminded of that ancient city whose name 
rhymes with this one, and which, from her seven hills, ruled the 
world, and I wondered if people were as greedy after gold in 
those days as they are today. I also wondered which was con- 
ducive of the more sorrow — the greed for power possessed by 
the Romans or the greed for gold wliich seems to possess us 
modern mortals. The world will never know the extent of the 
pain, sorrow and suffering that has been caused by that mystic 
word "Nome," during its existence./ In one week, during the 
summer of 1900, twenty-five bodies were washed up on the 
beach between Nome and Topkok, a minicig camp sixty miles 
down the coast. Undoubtedly, only a small proportion of the 
bodies were washed ashore there. In the winter of 1900-1, 
l)etween the same two points, and in about the same length of 
time, nearly as many were frozen to death, not counting those 
who had arms and legs frozen off. Were the seven or eight 
millions of dollars taken out in the past two years enough to 
balance the suffering, pain and sorrow endured by these poor 
men, and incidentally, their families, remembering that this 



OR, TH?: WORLDS I.ONGKST FAST 15 

does not iiK'lude the sii{Toriiig- of those who did not die, and 
further remembering that those who died on that short coast 
line were a very, very small moiety of the total numl)er during 
the entire two years, in all of Alaska? This means imndi-eds of 
families left without their bread-winner, and carrying a load of 
grief instead of gold. Can any])ody say that eight millions, or 
even fifty millions would offset all this! ' 

AMiile I was standing at the rail contemplating the metropolis 
of the gold fields, most of the passengers had gone ashore in the 
numerous small boats that swarmed around the ship's sides as 
soon as we dropped anchor; as my destination was Port 
Clarence, about sixty miles further northward, and the 
Thrasher was to remain here a week before going on up, I de- 
cided to stay on board at night, and inspect Nome and vicinity 
in the daytime. 




16 STARVING ON A RED OF GOLD 

THE GOLD SEEKERS. 



The panting steamer slowly drops 
Away from the crowded pier; 

The blackened deck recedes from view, 
And leaves me musing here. 

Away where the gold so warm and red, 
Lies hid in the dark earth's breast; 

Little they reck of danger or cold. 
Aglow with the golden quest. 

The rosy youth with kindling eye, 
In his manhood's early dawn; 

The pale man with the student's stoop. 
The stalwart man of brawn. 

All, each and all, with fevered gaze. 
Fixed on the fields of gold; 

Ah, well-a-day! for a faith that's tirm. 
And a heart that is brave and bold. 

For those there be who will come again. 
All broken and worn and wan ; 

"While others left in the Arctic snows, 
Will slumber forever on. 

And some will em])ty-handed come, 
Who have missed tbe golden goal, 

And some with gold, too dear, alas ! 
Tbe price of a sinless soul. 

And those at bome will sit at night— 
While tbe wind sweeps where it wills- 

W^ith heart away in a shambling shack 
In tbe wild Alaskan bills. 

'Tis thus I muse on the lonelj^ quay, 

Whence the hurrying crowd is gone- 
Wbilst far away for the frozen north 
A line of smoke trains sro on. 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 17 

CITAl^TKlx^ ir. 

AN EXCITING TRIP THROUGH THE ICE. 

Ou June 5tli, 1900, tlio good sliip Thrasher weighed aiiclior, 
and we left Nome for Cape York and way stations. As before 
said, I wanted to go to Tort Clarence Bay, between Nome and 
York, but it was understood that the ship would go to the latter 
place first. Just l)efore we steamed out of Nome Harl)or, the 
bark Alaska sailed around the stern of our boat and 
dropped anchor immediately off our starboard side. It proved 
to be the last time her hook ever fell. She was a total wreck 
the second morning afterwards, and had one or two other ships 
for company. Little did we think, as our steamer gave the 
customarj' three toots— the nautical goodbye — and was 
answered by three dips of the flag, that ere a second sun had 
risen, her bones would lie bleaching on that cheerless, barren, 
inhospitable shore. I have forgotten how many lives were lost 
that night, but there were a number. For several hours we 
sailed along towards our destination very smoothly. About 
dark, something of a storm came on; as the ice was very thick, 
Captain Ellis decided to stand well out at sea; when morning 
arrived we found we were many miles off shore, and almost 
opposite Cape York. As the captain had mail for Missionary 
Lopp at Cape Prince of Wales, which by the way, was in sight, 
he determined to go to that place first. When we came shore- 
ward we could see two boats lying at York, one a steamer, the 
other a sailing vessel. AYe soon dropped anchor in Bering 
Straits, off Cape Prince of Wales. The sea was rather rough 
and some wind blowing, and it was an hour or so before any 
of the natives ventured to come out to us. Finally several 
boatloads came, bringing the missionary with theui. It was 
my first meeting with the Eskimo in his native wilds. As they 
came through the water in their skin boats, and climbed over 
the ship's sides, in their peculiar dress, thoughts of my school 
days and the pictures so interesting to me in the okl geog- 
raphies flashed through my mind. I have since become so 
accustomed to them that they do not seem anything out of the 
ordinary; in fact, are very commonplace individuals. AYe did 
some trading with them; I remember paying one of them 
twenty dollars for a skin boat, and it proved to be one of the 



18 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

most useful purchases I made in Alaska. The skin boat is 
nothing more nor less than a light frame, made something in the 
shape of our small boats, and covered with walrus skin. They 
are of all sizes, very light, and if properly handled and cared 
for, are durable; they should never be left with water in them 
as the skin soon softens. You are obliged to step very care- 
fully, and only on the frame work, or you may have a hole 
through the bottom the size of your foot. If carefully bal- 
anced a big load may be carried in them. 

There are few if any whites at this village except the mis- 
sionary and his wife. Mr. Lopp, who has been in charge here 
for years, is well spoken of by the natives and whites; in fact, 
I have met some of the natives who thought him almost infal- 
lible. He was formerly a teacher here, and afterwards given 
charge of the mission. I am reminded of a story told by some 
sacrilegious people in this country; they say that those who 
preach the gospel here have to describe Hades as a very cold 
place instead of a very hot one, as the poor native is much 
inclined to favor a warmer climate. 

After spending a few hours at anchor, we started for Cape 
York, with thirty or forty natives and the missionary aboard, 
their skin boats trailing behind the ship. In a short time we 
arrived there; passengers who expected to get off were on 
deck, their luggage and blankets at hand, all ready to be set 
ashore, and everybody was waiting for the anchor chain to 
rattle. Suddenly Captain Ellis, who was on the bridge called 
in stentorian tones to those in charge below, "Don't drop that 
anchor." We heard him immediately ring for "full speed 
ahead". Astonished, we all looked seaward, and, in the dis- 
tance could be seen a long white line, so well known to every ice 
captain. A storm was coming, driving the icebergs before it. 
One ship, the steamer that we had seen on our way up, was well 
outside the ice line. The sailing vessel had also seen the 
danger, but was powerless to get out of it. We did not wait 
to land natives or anybody else, but started for the open sea 
as fast as steam and sail could carry us. The poor vessel that 
was left fired her gun, and turned her flag upside down, signals 
of distress, but it was our ship and the lives of her passengers 
against the others, and we had not a moment to spare. The 
natives, well used to aquatic exercises, climbed over the stern 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 19 

of tlie boat wliile we were under I'uli speed, reniiiidiug me of 
frogs jumping into a mill pond; tlie squaws seemed even more 
expert than the bucks. Soon the storm struck us, but we had 
rounded the ice and were no longer in danger of being driven 
ashore by it. When we reached clear water, the captain turned 
the ship 's stern to the gale and we scudded before the wind ; on, 
on we flew, faster than we had ever traveled on the Thrasher be- 
fore. Night dropped her sable curtain over the scene, but the 
frightful howling of the wind tlirough the rigging told us, as we 
lay in our bunks, of the condition of affairs around us. Mari- 
ners say that though the Bering Sea is shallow, it can generate a 
more dangerous storm than the main ocean; the waves are short, 
choppy and irregular. We were driven through the Bering- 
Strait and a hundred miles into the Arctic before the storm 
abated; we then took the back track, and, that night, ho ve- 
to in the lee of a bluff on the Siberian coast. Bright and early 
next morning we passed back through the straits and finally 
arrived again at Cape York. We found that all hands had 
abandoned the vessel we left in distress, and she had been 
driven about by the ice, but strange to say, was uninjured. 

Just before we got there, the captain and some of his men 
had gone aboard again; if we had found her still drifting we 
would have had a rich prize, as the salvage in such cases is 
very liberal. 

This time our York passengers managed to get off without 
any mishap. We then steamed on down the coast to Port 
Clarence Bay; as the ice had not yet gone out, we were landed 
on the ''Spit," a narrow, fifteen-mile stretch of sand, sepa- 
rating Bering Sea from the Bay. This country abounds in 
' ' spits " ; as you will soon hear, one of them came very nearly 
causing my death by starvation. About a dozen of the 
Thrasher party remained, camped together on the Spit, for 
nearly two weeks; when the ice went out of the bay, 
four of us crossed over to the old Reindeer Station, a govern- 
ment building put up some years ago as a headquarters for 
keepers of the reindeer, and for other purposes. My mining 
partner and myself were persuaded by the recorder of the 
mining district to stop over here for a time. There was no 
particular excitement, but we liked the looks of the country, 
and subsequent developments proved we were right in that 
respect. After we had camped at the station a week or two, 



20 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

a little town began to spring up, three miles above, on the bay. 
The projectors of the tented city invited us np, and we went, 
locating a conple of lots. Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the govern- 
ment agent, who came in one of the boats about this time, sug- 
gested that the new town be called Teller; a little mass meeting 
was assembled as soon as we took this suggestion up, and the 
place was given that name — the name the Reindeer Station had 
borne on the maps. "Wilson Brothers" were just erecting 
a store building, up to that time, the only one in the city of 
tents. The members of the firm on the ground were Thomas 
CI. and William M. Wilson; I mention their names, as they 
come more or less into the subsequent parts of this story. 
There was no particular life in this little mining camp of 
about sixty tents; at that time of the year it was daylight 
substantially all night. We went to bed at any hour, and got 
up the same way, just as our fancy dictated; there was nothing 
to do except to watch dog fights, and do a little fighting our- 
selves with swarms of tantalizing mosquitoes as our opponents. 
Like Dickens' celebrated character, we were "waiting for 
something to turn up, ' ' and, so far as the writer is concerned, 
it did. I went out on a trip that came very, very nearly cost- 
ing me my life, and the equal of which is said never to have 
occurred in Alaska, the country where hardships and pri- 
vation are the portion of every man. Before starting to give 
a detailed description of my journeying for sixty-seven days, 
lost and without food, through the roughest, wildest mountains 
of this wild, rough country, I realize that words can not begin 
to describe the suffering I passed through from the time I 
started, to the 22nd day of September, 1900, when I was found 
dying. 

At this writing, a few months subsequent to the time I was 
discovered, I am still an invalid, imprisoned, as it miglit be 
termed, in the town of Teller, Alaska, in the midst of the worst 
winter that the country has seen for a quarter of a century, if 
the statements of the Indians and some "old timers" 
can be relied upon. I further realize that a great many 
people in "the States" will not believe that any person could 
have gone through what I describe. I have procured the 
affidavits of government officials and others who will vouch 
for the truthfulness of all, except those facts that are known 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 



21 



only to God and myself. For 1 was not seen by, and did not 
see a liuuian l)eing or hear a human voice (except my own) 
from tlie time I was lost until 1 was found dying. These 
affidavits will he found at the end of this book. 



BERING SEA. 



B}' W. H, Harrison. 

Oh, Bering Sea! Oh, Bering Sea! 

What fury hath awakened thee! 
To lash thy sounding, sullen shore, 

And with hoarse, tumultuous roar 
Proclaim thy anger long and loud"? 

Art thou bellowing to the cloud 
From whence the cold and slanting rain 

Is driven by the wind amain I 
Do the ships that at anchor ride 

Upon thy dark and swelling tide. 
Until chains creak and anchors drag, 

And half-mast floats a signal flag — 

Do they annoy and harry thee, 

Oh, fitful, tempestuous sea? 
Or is this sport and do you play 

"With sail and life and destiny? 
Do you kick up these foam-flecked waves 

In wanton fun, and laugh at graves, 
Unmarked in ooze and sea weed rank, 

Where luckless sailors, clammy, dank. 
With eyeless eyes that need no light. 

Lie and rot — weird, grisly sight ? 
Yet, still I love you, Bering Sea, 

Oh, water — waste of mvsterv! 



[ love you in calm, peaceful mood, 
Wlien by the zephyrs you are wooed, 

When sunlight glints your pulse beats faint 
With tints that mortals could not ]iaint; 

But I love you most when you rage, 



22 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

And roar and surge, and when you wage 
Tlie battle like the war of life; 

This thrills and fills my soul with strife, 
Until it beats its prison door 

As the waves beat a rocky shore. 
I love you, oh sea, tempest tossed; 

The story you tell and is lost 

By the winds in the silent hills 

Of Nome, is always one that thrills 
The heart — a tale of "hair-breadth 'scapes," 

Where the water stretches, yawns and gapes: 
' ' Of moving accidents by flood. 

The imminent deadly breach," blood 
Incarnardining world. You win 

Me, Bering Sea, ere you begin. 
Without "wit or words" of your life. 
The tale that w^on the Moor a wife. 
My heart is thine, I bend my knee, 

Oh, restless, roaring, raging sea. 



CHAPTER ril. 

LOST 

Little did I think when I retired to rest in my tent at Teller, 
on the night of July 14, 1900, that on the following day I would 
start on a trip that would change me from a physically perfect 
man, six feet one inch and a half in height, weighing a shade 
over two hundred and twenty-five pounds, to a living 
skeleton, weighing one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and 
all within the space of sixty-seven days. 

On July the 15th, 1900, about half-past ten o'clock in the 
morning, "Billy" Wilson, of the firm of Wilson Brothers, 
storekeepers at the tented town of Teller, opened the flap of 
ray tent and said, "Come down to the store; there's some busi- 
ness for you. ' ' Being an attorney, I naturally concluded that 
there were some legal matters to attend to there. At that 
time of the year the dark part of the day, or what we usually 




James A. Hall in Alaskan Garb 



OK, THE WORLDS LOxXGEST FAST 25 

call "night," was of very sliort diiration. 1 had goiio to bed 
late, and as a consequence woke \\\) late. At tlie time lie ap- 
peared 1 was lying- in bed reading a magazine. 1 got nj), 
dressed and went down to the store. He informed me that his 
brother Tom, who was ont in front of the store, wanted to 
speak to me. 1 went ont and. saw Tom and was informed that 
he had brought two men u]) from Nome on a gasoline launch 
he had purchased down there a couple of days before. These 
men, it seems, claimed they had information, derived from the 
deatlil)ed statement of some old friend of one of them in 
Florida, concerning the location of a very rich (juaiiz ])rospect 
at some point a few miles l)ack in the mountains north of 
T^'eller. It was asserted that this man was one of the first party 
of surveyors sent into Alaska by the United States govern- 
ment, many years ago. He had discovered this rich lode, 1)ut 
had no opportunity to prosi^ect it. He had kept the informa- 
tion to himself, hoping at some time to come out and locate it. 
but one thing or another detained him until he found himself 
near the top of the "Great Divide" that we nmst all cross, 
sooner or later. He then communicated the information to 
others, and it fell into the hands of one of these two men. 

Tom Wilson, on his way up from Nome on the launch, had 
luade u]) his mind to send, as his representative, along with 
these men, an old miner who was clerking in his store, but 
when he arrived at Teller he found the old gentleman absent 
for a few days. He and his brother AVilliam then talked the 
matter over, and concluded to ask me to go. It was under- 
stood that the trip would not take over three or four days, so 
I consented. We were to start at noon, and this gave me less 
than an hour and a half to get my blankets ready. "Wilson 
Brothers told me to come down to the store and get what 
provisions I needed. So I went to my tent, rolled up a double 
and single blanket in some canvas, threw a big plug of pipe 
smoking tobacco, a good sized bunch of matches, and some 
other small things into a United States haversack I had pur- 
chased in San Francisco for such emergencies. With my 
blankets strapped to my shoulders (their weight was about 
twenty-four pounds), my haversack leather over one shoulder, 
and a granite cu]^ and sheath knife at my belt, I went down to 
the store. In the hurry, I forgot to put in a compass I had in 
the tent. 



26 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

When I got to the store, Billy AVilson asked me what pro- 
visions he should put up. "Oh," said I, "put in some bacon, 
some crackers, some salt and some coffee. I do not want to 
take much, as I am a light eater and too soft yet to carry any 
more load than 1 can help. ' ' He stepped over to where the bacon 
was hanging, and putting a big -knife up on the "side" said, 
"about that much?" I said, "No, Billy, that would make too 
much of a load — about half that." He cut it as indicated, 
about three pounds, then he put in some crackers to corre- 
spond, a little salt and a half-pound can of coffee. This is all 
I took on the trip, and would have been enough for the time I 
expected to be gone. 

Promptly at noon we started, Tom Wilson taking us in the 
launch down the bay to the old Reindeer Station three miles 
below. From here we "mushed" (localism for tramped) 
over the tundra, westerly eight miles, to a stream known 
as Eureka Creek. 

"Tundra," described elsewhere in this book, is the decayed 
vegetation of ages, covered by a kind of moss, and thickly 
studded with pools of stagnant water. It is from a foot tc 
three feet in depth, and is frequently dotted with "nigger- 
heads". As a walking medium it is of course, abominable. 

At Eureka Creek we turned and paralleled the stream 
northerly until late in tlie evening, when we camped on what 
is called Mystic River. When camp was reached, my com- 
panions suggested that we use my provisions first, as theirs 
was in tablet form and lighter to carry. I agreed, so we had 
supper and breakfast off my bacon, and they had some fresh 
])read which we used. At five o'clock in the morning we were 
off again in a dense fog. We traveled at a rapid gait until 
the middle of the afternoon, when we stopped for rest and 
luncheon. One of the party made a fire and they dissolved 
some of their tablets in hot water, which, with a portion of 
my crackers, made a fairly good meal. We laid down and 
slept for a time in the sun. On rolling up my blankets I forgot 
to put in a small army frying pan I carried; one of the party 
offered to take it, so late that evening when T was lost, they 
had the only cooking utensil I carried. 

We traveled rapidly the rest of the day, they with chart am' 
compass in hand, gAiding the way. About six o'clock in the 
evening we crossed a snow glacier that had not even yet been 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 27 

melted by tlie summer sun, aud began tlie ascent of a liig'li, slate- 
covered mountain. 1 was much fatigued when we came to this 
climb, and as it was very steep, and i very tired, the slate rocks 
frequently giving way under my feet as I ascended, sending 
me crawfish-like backward quite a distance, 1 made very slow 
headway; they soon got some ways ahead of me. When 
1 had proceeded about two-thirds up the mountain 
a heavy fog struck us. They were ver}- nearly up, but 
I noted their location, and finally reached the top just at the 
point where I saw them disappear. Fully expecting to find 
them waiting for me, I called in a loud voice, but received no 
answer. There were fifteen or twenty acres of rough table 
land on top. I went directly across this, thinking perhaps 
they had gone down the opposite side. In the darkness I 
could see the outlines of an almost perpendicular cliff, and a 
steep ravine below me filled with a glacier. There being so 
many other directions they could take to get off this table 
mountain, I concluded it would be folly to attempt to follow in 
the darkness and heavy fog, so I unrolled my blankets, took 
a few mouthful s to eat, and went to bed. I did not feel 
frightened, but badly disappointed at losing them. 

The fog soon turned into a rain, and I had a sample of what 
I afterwards got for weeks in succession. Morning finally 
came, and with it one of those beautiful Indian summer days 
that sometimes occur here at that time of the year. On such 
a day the distance one can see, especially from such a high 
elevation as this, almost surpasses belief. We had made so 
many turns that I did not remember the points of the compass. 
I had laid my bed under the lee of a small cliff a little over the 
edge of the mountain so as to protect myself as much as possible 
from the wind and fog. Getting something to eat and rolling 
up my blankets I went to the highest part of the plateau to 
determine what I would do. When I reached the elevation 
I could very plainly see what I took to be Port Clarence Bay 
and the sand spit that separates it from Bering Sea. I argued 
to myself that there was no use trying to retrace the round- 
a])out trip we had made when I could cut across and get home 
so much easier. Oh, fatal mistake! How small a thing 
sometimes changes the whole current of our lives. This one 
caused me indescribable suffering, loss of health and money, 
caused my family and friends all the pangs suffered for the 



28 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

death of a loved one, aud left me a skeleton to battle with the 
liardest winter Alaska has seen in many years. If the day 
had been foggy or even an ordinarily clear one, 1 would not 
have seen this distant bay and spit, and would have tried to 
retrace my steps, or at the worst would have reached some 
point on the Bering Sea, in a day or so, where I would have 
found plenty of natives, and been perfectly safe. There had 
not been over three such days during the summer, and that I 
should catch this one just at this time, seems almost as queer 
a freak of the wheel of fate, as my rescue nine Aveeks later, 
when dying from starvation. 

I stood for a few minutes on an immense boulder, pondering 
over the matter, and finally when my mind was made up, I 
tightened my pack straps, and started for my objective point, 
which was a high bald mountain, apparently near the shore of 
this bay. It seemed very near like a mountain I had seen back 
of Teller. Down I went over rocks and small glaciers, where 
the sun never struck, until, after a j^recipitous tri]3 of prob- 
ably a mile, I came to the bed of a stream of considerable 
size that seemed to run in the direction I wished to go. I 
followed this stream many miles, but as night drew nigh I 
seemed little closer to my landmark than when I started. 

On the way down this little river, while mushing over the 
tundra alongside, I caught a young bird. It was the only one 
I had seen during the day and was some company to me as I sat 
on the bank fondling it. The temptation to kill and eat it was 
strong within me. I realized that my food was almost gone, 
and that even if I could reach Teller the next day, I would be 
glad enough to find some of my friends at dinner. Still, the 
poor little fellow seemed, like mvself, lost, and as I had not, 
up to this time, felt the pangs of hunger, I let the poor thing 
go, and it flew off with a chirp tliat seemed to say "Thank 
you." 

With ihe evening came another heavy fog, and I found a 
place on the stream where there were some dead willows, and 
camped. I made a fire and broiled a piece of bacon on the 
tines of a fork I had in my haversack; this was the last meat 
I ever cooked on the trip. The balance of the small piece 
of bacon I had left I ate raw, as there was too much waste in 
broiling it in this way. The portion that remained of this 
article was less in size than the pnlm of my hand. I liad four 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 29 

or five crackers and some salt. There was })iol>al»ly tliree- 
foiii'ths of a lialf-poiiiul can of coffee left. 

I awoke early next morning-, and rolling- n^) my wet blankets, 
(it had rained again the i>i-evions night) took a few mouthfuls 
and started. A half mile or so l)eJow my camp the creek 
turned oft" my course, so I was obliged to ci'oss the divides over 
the wet and miry tundra. 

During this second day I was downlieai'ted most of tlie 
time. I could see my distant landmark, but could not see the 
bay or spit. 

My sheath knife was an eight-inch surgeon's amputating 
im])lement, given me by a dear medical friend. J had had a 
fine ))uckhorn handle put on lief ore I left San Francisco, and 
the blade \^as as sharp as a razor. It stood me in good stead 
many a time during tlie trip, but was a sorry looking weapon; 
when I Avas finally found the point was broken off, the 
shaft was l)roken and an old willow handle — the sixth 
I had put on during the trip— had taken the place of the buck- 
horn. At one place where I stop]>ed to rest, I took my little 
piece of bacon from my haversack, and with my knife drew 
fourteen lines across the rind equal distances apart, each por- 
tion being about the thickness of a case knife blade. I made U]) 
my mind to take one of these morning and evening. It was 
merely a mouthful, but I was determined to make my supply go 
as far as possible. 

I was full of uncertainty; at times I was sure I was right, 
and then again a strong feeling that I was wrong would take 
possession of me. At one time I took a half day to climb a 
high elevation, that I might see the bay and spit. An 
idea had come over me that I might have seen a mirage. 
When I got to the top of the mountain there it was, in dim 
outline before me, but apparently still a long way off, although 
I had then 1)een traveling four days. I went back down the 
mountain to where I had left my l)lankets and camped in some 
scrub willows on a stream; a bite of ])acon, a (juarter of a 
cracker, a smoke for a few minutes, and I w^as ready to wrap u]) 
in my blankets. 

This was about the routine for the time it took me to get 
out of tlie mountains. I had been following a stream nearly 
all of the last day. Late in the afternoon of this day I had 
arrived verv nearlv to mv landmark. The stream I was on 



30 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

diverged, and I concluded to cross the low foothills that 
seemed directly on my course. I turned from the river, and 
climbed the first one ; being now quite weak from want of food, 
it was a hard climb for me to get mp this brushy ascent. 
When I did get to the top my heart was filled with joy. The sun 
was just setting and it threw long streaks of golden sheen 
across the water that appeared to be very close by. I knew, 
from hearsay, that there was a large lake back of Teller, 
although J. had never seen it. I also knew that between Teller 
and this lake there was a sandy elevation. Here they were, 
two or three miles ahead of me, as plain as day. I was happy. 
I had nothing to do but ' ' mush ' ' over a few miles of swampy 
tundra and I would be at Teller. I was tired and weak from 
hunger and, furthermore, I felt I would rather go iA early next 
morning and surprise them all asleep, than to get in at night 
and be joked about being lost, even had I been physically 
able to get there. I wrapped myself in my blankets and lay 
down to sleep on a dry piece of tundra I found on top of the 
hill, intending to rise early and go to town. It was the first 
good ,night's rest I had had since I was lost. There was 
nothing on my mind to worry me, as there had been for 
several days and nights past. 

Morning came none too soon for me; with a cheerful heart, 
I rolled up my blankets in that neat, compact shape that a 
miner and "musher" soon learns in this country, and started. 
My course took me through the low, boggy tundra bordering 
the lake. I found it much farther to this lake than it had 
seemed from the hilltop, and I sank to my knees at every step. 
Here I felt my first thirst. While in the mountains I had 
]"»lenty of fine, pure snow wator in the creeks, but while there 
was an abundance of water here it was not fit to drink. No 
one in this country thinks of drinking tundra water without 
first boiling it. 

Finally, after many hours, I got to the lake. I fomid it was 
fed principally by a mountain stream, and seemed reasonably 
clear and pure, so I drank several cupfuls of it. While on the 
border of the lake T discovered that I had lost my sheath 
knife. I remembered using it a few hundred yards back to 
cut some tobacco, so I retraced my steps and luckily found it. 
The lake had a kind of low wall or dyke all around it, except 
where the stream entered. It looked almost as tlioush it had 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 31 

been done by human hands. I saw a great many of these after- 
ward, and figured out to my own satisfaction, at least, the 
cause. Higli winds prevail, especially at certain seasons of 
the year. The lake, having an area of several acres, generates 
quite heavy swells or waves; this would pile up the soft dirt 
and the debris until, in a few years, a heavy dyke would be 
built by nature. The rapid rise and fall of the lake, owing to 
the melting snows wiiicli feed the rivers, serve to keep the 
banks in good repair. 

After resting on the lake shore for some time, I again shoul- 
dered my pack and started along the edge of the water toward 
the elevation now only about half a mile away, and from which 
I was sure I could see Teller. As the distance decreased the 
beating of my heart increased. I began to consider what it 
meant to me, if perchance, I should be wrong. At last I 
arrived at the foot of the low divide. To climb to the top 
was the work of but a few minutes. With eager eyes I 
scanned the landscape. My spirits sank as I realized there 
was nothing but a barren waste before me. I was on a little 
sandy hillock and the front of it was covered with scrub 
willows and streaked with little ravines filled with compact 
snow, which, slowly melting, fed a small lake at the foot. I 
was in despair, but I had one hope left. Port Clarence Bay 
is the largest of a chain of three inland seas, Grantley Harbor 
emptying into it from a narrow strait formed by a spit, and 
being itself the recipient of a still smaller body of water, 
known as Great Salt Lake. I might be approaching Great 
Salt Lake instead of Grantle}^ Harbor. A body of water 
several miles in extent lay before me; now the next question in 
my mind was whether or not it was salty. If so, 1 still had a 
chance to be right. If not, I had been following a will-o'-the- 
wisp, and had come to some big fresh water lake. I could 
see, from where I stood, that the nearer bank of this liody 
of water curved in a semi-circle until it almost touched the 
spit that seemed to form its opposite boundary, and which I 
had seen from afar. A heavy lake-covered tundra lay be- 
tween ]ne and the shore, but filling with ice my coffee can, 
from which I had emptied the coffee into a salt sack, I started. 
Those two or three miles were as bad as ten on the creeks. I 
sank above my knees at every step. Exercise, weakness and 
the heat of the burning sun, made me very thirsty. There was 



32 STARVING OX A BED OF GOLD 

notliiiig but staguaut, typhus breeding tundra water -witliin 
reach; this I did uot dare drink without boiling, and there 
was no wood. To make matters worse there were mosquitoes 
by the million. 

After several hours I reached the shore. Here I found 
plenty of drift wood. Going down to the water's edge I dipped 
up a cupful. It was salty. Making a fire from the drift wood, 
I melted some of the snow found under the bank, and satisfied 
my thirst. I boiled some leaves I had gathered and drank the 
extract. After a smoke, I threw some more wood on the fire, 
and being very tired, lay down and slept an hour or so. After 
this rest, I started down the shore of the bay, hoping that 
when I reached the lower end of the body of water I woukl 
find Port Clarence and Teller on the other side of the little 
divide that appeared in the distance. The walking along the 
shore was comparatively good for the bahince of the day. 
There is little, if any, tide on this coast, and no sandy beach. 

Toward evening I came to an arm of the bay extending a 
couple of miles back into the tundra. This, of course, I had 
to go around. I decided to camp, and try this hard trip in 
the early morning. The sun was still an hour or so high, and 
the mosquitoes as thick as the hair on a Malamoot dog's back. 
I found some dry tundra, and unrolling my blankets, went to 
bed. I was unable at this place to find even grass roots to 
eat. I searched all the little ]^onds to see if T could find some 
frogs. There are no frogs in this country. T dug for worms. 
There are no worms in this part of Alaska. 

This was on July 23rd, and T desire to digress, with the 
reader's permission, for a few minutes. A most startling 
instance in mental telepathy ha])pened in connection with the 
following day. This book, as before said, is being written at 
Teller, Alaska, during the terrible winter of 1900-1. In the 
second mail to reach here from "the States," after navigation 
closed, I received a long letter from one of my sisters, Mrs. 
Adelia TI. Tafiinder, of San Francisco. My relatives had all be- 
lieved me dead, but on September 27th, the day T was brought in 
in a dying condition, T had caused postals to be sent informing 
my relatives that T had just l)een found and hoped to live. 
No particulars were given. Imagine my surprise at the fol- 
lowing sentences in my sister's letter, in reply: 

"I dreamed not long ago that T was huntino- for von in an 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 33 

unkuowu land; at last I met you for an instant only. You 
looked so sad and troubled and did not speak, but handed me 
a piece of paper with only these words written thereon, 
'July 24th'. I do not know what happened to you that day 
unless you felt utter despair. ' ' 

Next morning I got up early, and following the winding of 
this inlet, finally got around to the bay again. I rounded 
another, much shorter, an hour or so afterward, and then had 
comparatively good walking until the early part of the after- 
noon when I came to a wide marsh, covered with the worst 
kind of tundra, and thickly dotted with lakes. Wading 
through this for a couple of hours, sinking nearly to the top 
of my hip boots at every step, and finding very few places where 
I could even stop for a breathing spell, I came to a big river. 
(I have since learned that this was the now celebrated Ser- 
pentine). Luckily for me the river formed a delta, there 
being two branches. The gravel from the mountains had 
washed down and the bed was comparatively firm. By select- 
ing a wide place I was able to cross each branch, the water 
coming to within an inch or so of the top of my hip boots, 
except in one place where a little water ran into them, but as 
the weather was then warm I did not mind this. 

After crossing this stream it was only a short distance to 
good walking on the bay shore again. Kesting every few min- 
utes, I kept going until almost dark. As I walked along the 
edge of the water, I saw in the distance something that appeared 
to be the frame of a small building, and also beheld with joy 
what I took to be a man coming in my direction. Before getting 
to the frame, I came across some old moss-covered chips, such 
as would l)e made by sharpening i)i<^'l'^^^s. As I drew 
near what I had thought, in the uncertain light of the evening, 
to be a man, I found a heavy, piece of drift wood set in the 
ground. It had the appearance of having been there for 
years, as did the several pieces of frame work I had taken to 
be the ruins of a native eglow or house. It must have been 
something used by whaling vessels in years agone. 

I went on a hundred yards or so, and as it was getting dusk, 
and I was very tired, even with the numerous and long rests 
I had taken, I concluded to camp. I threw my blanket roll 
down at the water's edge and ascended the high embankment 
to see what could be seen. This was done hurriedly, as dark- 



34 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

ness was fast approaeliing-. Going- a liundred yards or so back 
from the bank my heart almost ceased beating at the sight. 
In the limited horizon I could see an ocean, and mimediately 
before me was another bay. Inland and in the edge of the low 
foothills I could distinguish two or three large lakes, such as 
I knew were not anywhere about Teller. Hope was now 
almost gone. I returned to my camping place and sat down 
upon my bedding, saying aloud, ''I guess the jig's up." I am 
not given to using slang, and know not why I did then, but 
the words will ring in my ears t% my dying day. I was now 
perfectly convinced that I was at the Arctic Ocean, with- 
out food, or the prospect of food — I was almost a living 
skeleton even then — and knew, if it was the Arctic, I must be 
at least a hundred and fifty miles from Teller, as I remembered 
it on the maps. 

I unrolled my blankets and lay down, but not to sleep. 
Carefully I considered what was best to be done in the morn- 
ing. The great question in my mind was whether to attempt 
to follow the shore of the ocean or try to retrace my steps. 
From the hurried view I got on the hilltop the shore looked 
barren and desolate indeed. I realized that if I got into the 
mountains again I could have pure fresh water, and plenty of 
dead willows for a fire. Besides there Avas still a little grass 
and a few weeds and plants. This I knew, but what was on 
the shore was an unknown quantity to me. 

I have been told many times since my rescue that I would 
probably have found shell fish or something of that kind on 
the rocky beach of the ocean when I got to it. Bo 
this as it may, I carefully weighed every point for and against 
taking to the coast, well knowing that my life probably hung 
on my judgment in the matter. 

Along towards morning I concluded to again go back to 
the knoll where I was the evening before, and if a clearer view 
should confirm my opinion of the looks of the shore, attempt 
to retrace my long journey. I dropped into a doze and upon 
awaking found that the usual morning fog had cleared away, 
and the siin was shining brightly. 

Eolling up my blankets, I ran my arms through the shoulder 
straps and climbed the bank and knoll. In the clear morning 
light I could plainly see the barren, desolate shore of the grim 
old Arctic. It appeared even worse than it did the night 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 35 

before. The die was cast. I must attempt to retrace my 
tracks. 

I concluded that instead of following- tlie bay shore back, I 
would cut across the tundra to tlie place where 1 came off the 
mountains and thus avoid tlie long "mush" ai-ound the arms 
of the bay. Taking a landmark as near as possible in line 
with this point, I started, traveling all day and at night 
camped, or rather slept, on a dry piece of tundra. I well 
remembered climbing over a small hillock on the ocean side of 
which there was some brush and melting snow, with a lake 
at the bottom, as heretofore described. My endeavor was to 
find such a place. I found a dozen that answered the descrip- 
tion almost j)erfectly, but could not find the right one. I spent 
several days looking for it, tramping over this terril)le tundra. 

At last I gave it up in despair, and concluded to try to get 
to the low foot hills, and parallel the high mountain range 
until I could, if possible, get my bearings. While on the marsh 
I found a kind of rush that had a little nutriment in it. If I 
caught it firmly near the root I pulled up what very much re- 
sembled a young onion sprout. The outside of this was spongy 
and absolutely without nourishment, but the center, the young- 
est leaf (if that is the proper term, botanically speaking), con- 
tained a little nutriment. It was not as large as a shingle nail, 
but by collecting a great numl)er of them they helped me 
some. 

On this wet lowland, and in fact along the edge of the 
streams in the mountains, I found a weed that in childhood I 
had known as "sour dock". It has two elongated leaves and 
between them sends up a stem that we used to chew. This 
stem is sour to the taste and perhaps has a little nutriment 
in it. I used it whenever I found it. I had never tried the 
root of this plant, and one evening while on the lowlands, con- 
cluded I would try to cook some of it. It is yellowish in color 
and has quite a large bulb. It softened in the boiling and 
before I tasted it I thought I had found something that would 
serve me in good stead. When I came to eat it I found it as 
bitter as gall and a- few minutes afterwards my stomach 
ejected it. 

After an exhausting trip of a day, I got back to the foot- 
hills once more and started in to parallel the higher range. 
Up to this time I had never been able to see a clear sunrise 



36 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

or sunset on account of fogs and because during all of the 
first week I was down in the ravines. I knew approximately 
the number of days I had been lost and could therefore tell 
very nearly what day of the month it was. I also knew, of 
course, that on September 21st the sun would rise due east 
and set in exactly th§ opposite direction. 

After being in the low hills for two or three nights I finally 
got a clear sunset and that same night saw the north star, 
the evening being clear and cold. As soon as I had located 
the points of the compass I felt a little more hope. I knew 
that going south would take me to the Bering Sea. The 
trouble was that I found myself too weak to scale the high 
mountains that were to the south of me, and was obliged to 
continue in the same direction I was going, and which I now 
knew to be easterly, hoping that I would find some low place 
through the divide. 

About this time I came across a small water course that 
did not contain running water but had a number of pools in 
its bed. As I was passing one of these I saw a small fish dart 
in under the tundra-covered bank. I dropped my pack and 
taking off my sou '-wester baled the hole dry after an hour 
or so of work, being rewarded by the possession of a minnow 
the length, probably, of an average finger. I did not stop to 
cook it but ate it raw in two bites. In this same little creek 
T caught three more during that day and the next, all about the 
same size. After, this for two or three days, before the heavy 
rains began, I kept a sharp lookout for these dry water 
courses. T would even go out of my way for miles if T saw 
any indication. I found only one more, but a coui)le of hours 
before I reached it a heavy rain began and as soon as I 
came across a likel\' looking hole I cached my blankets under 
the brush and worked in the cold storm for hours, 
baling with my hat. I finally got it dry and was rewarded 
with three little fish somewhat smaller than the ones I got 
on the other creek. I caught two more a day or so after- 
wards in a manner that certainly seemed providential. 

The latter part of the day had been warm but the evening 
was cold. I conceived the idea of slee])ing in the rocky bed 
of the creek I was on and of building a big fire on the rocks 
and when they got hot, sweeping them off and making my bed. 
I tried it and made a dismal failure; the rocks were too hot 



OR, THE AVOKLIVS LONGEST FAST 37 

to be eomfortahlc at first ])ut aloiiii; toward inorning fijot very 
cold. T liad always heard tliat rocks held heat for a long 
time, but 1 do not believe it now. Another thing that kept 
nie very uneasy was the thought that perhaps I had not swept 
all the coals out of the crevices and would set my blankets 
afire. 

Next morning 1 arose early from my cold, hard bed, and 
''mushed" on up the creek. 1 was suffering even more than 
usual from hunger that morning; there being no running water 
in the course and the tundra coming right down to the bank 
there were absolutely no weeds or grass at all. I had gone 
about half a mile when in a little shallow pool 1 discovered two 
of my small finny friends. It was only necessary to stoop down 
and pick them up. These, nine in all, completed my fish diet, 
as the heavy rains became almost continuous about this time, 
and started all the streams running. 

I desire to explain the reason I use the word ''mush" so 
frequently. While the word is a localism of this northern 
country it is not slang. It is used always by everybody who has 
been here any length of time and is very expressive. Travel- 
ing over the heavy, soft tundra we have could not be 
as well described by any other word. It is also used syn- 
onymously with the words "get out," esj:>ecially when applied 
to dogs and persons. 

They tell a story about a fellow who had lived in this 
country for several years. He w^ent out to "the States" a year 
or so ago. The boat getting in late at night he did not 
land until morning. Of course the first thing he did was to 
hunt up. the best restaurant he could find. Most Alaskans 
do this when they get out. He went in and sat down; not 
having had time to get shaved or change his old inining 
clothes, he fully realized that he had very nnicli the appear- 
ance of a tramp. A neat lady waiter came to his side and said, 
"Mush, sir?". He got right up and went out, leaving the 
waitress gazing at his departing figure, speechless and full of 
wonder at the man's actions. 

For some days after the fish episode nothing of particular 
interest happened. It would generally rain hard all night 
and clear up in the morning. I was very weak and emaciated 
and could rarely "mush" more than a couple of miles in a 
day and could never go to sleep before four or five o'clock 



38 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

iu the morning; if it was still raining when I awoke I often 
lay in my blankets all day with an oil coat (known here as 
a "slicker") over the upper part of my body and the piece 
of canvas in which I wrapped my blankets over the lower por- 
tion. With the blanket rope I would tie my blankets around me 
when I went to bed, and thus be warmer and at the same time 
keep the edges of the blanket from getting out into the rain. If 
it was not raining when I stopped to camp I always made 
a big fire, wood and water being two things that were always 
plentiful. 1 would boil some water in the half-pound coffee 
can and drink it, thus warming" myself, it being almost im- 
possible, as any old "sour dough" will tell you, to keep warm 
by an open fire. 

I counted my matches over and over again, and during the 
last two-thirds of my trip could have told you at any time 
how many matches I had. I remember having sixty-five 
left the day I was found dying. In attempting to make a 
fire once after a heavy rain I used eight matches and then did 
not succeed. I decided not to try further and got into my wet 
])]ankets very cold and was almost frozen all night long. You can 
hardly imagine how much the wasting of these eight matches 
worried me. If they had been twenty dollar gold pieces and 
the last I had in the, world, I assure you it would have troubled 
me less. The principal reason for the loss of matches this 
time was the absence of any suitable piece of wood to get 
shavings from. I became very expert in making fires and 
rarely used more than one or two matches, even after a heavy 
rain. 1 would find a limb of dead, barkless willow (willows 
were the onl}^ wood I saw on the trip) and taking my sheath 
knife, trim off the wet outside down to the dry part. Tlien I 
would cut some shavings from this stick after which I took 
the smallest branch tips to be found on a dead willow (of which 
there were always plenty, the heavy winds that ])revail ])laying 
sad havoc with the scrub Yvillows that line the stream banks), 
then I would put on larger and larger tij^s until finally the pile 
would burn easily. I was always in great fear that my 
matches would get wet. In order to guard against this, I 
left them in the paper in which they were bought; around 
this I kept a piece of oil paper in which most Alaskan goods 
are packed for import. This in turn was surrounded with 
a heavy piece of cloth and the whole package was kept in a 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 39 

large rubber tobacco i)()ii('li I liad in my pocket. To guard 
against the setting on Hrc of the whole ))nneli, in breaking off 
one, T separated it into several parts. 1 knew that tlie loss of 
niy matches was sure, death to me and I guarded them as I 
did my life. My ))]ankets were nearly always wet until I dried 
them at bedtime, and the hot water to keep me warm was 
indispensable. 

Seeing no low places in the rough mountains to the south 
of me I kept on easterly at my snail-like gait. After about 
three weeks, during which time the weather grew worse and 
worse, I saw, a few miles ahead of me, a high mountain which 
looked quite accessible, and from which I thought I might be 
able to better determine what I should do. Toward evening on 
the third day after this I arrived at the top. The mountain 
itself was quite high, but on the side I went up the ascent was 
so gradual that by taking a rest every few feet I got to the 
top without much difficulty, where there was a rectangular 
ledge of rocks four or five acres in extent and of an almost 
uniform height of })erhaps twenty-five feet. On the westerly 
end of this rocky crown was an old, partially tuml)led-down 
stone house. It must have been the work of natives in former 
years. Before examining this I eagerly surveyed the sur- 
rounding country. My heart rose within me as I beheld in 
the south a low pass through the mountains. While the ele- 
vation of this pass ax^peared even higher than the one I was 
on, still it was much lower than the rough, steep mountains 
on either side of it. After all I was afraid that I would not 
l)e able to scale even these lower mountains in my then 
physical condition, still having in mind the plan of follow- 
ing the Arctic shore. After calm deliberation and observation 
of perhaps half an hour, I came to the conclusion that I 
would try to reach another and still higher elevation about 
ten miles easterly. 1 favored the mountain route, but realized 
what a mistake would cost me. I could see a glacier on the 
side of this distant elevation and running down from it was 
apparently quite a large stream. Beneath the crown of this 
distant mountain top was the head of the largest and widest 
valley I had seen on the whole trip. There seemed to be a 
gradual slope of about five miles with very high precipitous 
mountains on either side of the little river that flowed down 
this valley and finally emptied, " some miles below, into the 



40 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

stream that ran easterly past the mountain I was then on. It 
appeared to me that it would not be a very hard trip down 
the latter stream and up the very gradual ascent of the former. 
It turned out to be the worst ten miles of my whole trip, not 
on account of the ''mushing," for that was comparatively 
good, but l)ecause of the weather and other things. I was ten 
days making this ten miles. 

When I had finished my observation and arrived at this 
conclusion, 1 went back to the easterly end of the cliff where 
I had left my blankets. At the base of this end was a low, 
marshy piece of ground. It seemed to me there should 
surely be worms here. In California, where I was raised, 
there would have been thousands of angle worms in such a 
pl,ace. I took my case knife from the haversack and dug 
over several feet of ground but there were no worms of any 
kind. 1 had thought of camping at this spot and getting some 
j)rotection from the lee side of the cliff, if it rained, but there 
being no pure water and no wood, I decided to go down the 
mountain side to the stream heretofore spoken of. The way 
down was marshy and covered with scrub willows near the 
foot. 

1 had gotten well down the mountain and within, probably, 
two hundred yards of the stream when I beheld right in front 
of me, and just across the stream, what at first sight I took 
to ])e a ])rospector's horse. I stopped short and said aloud, 
"Thank God," well knowing that a prospector there meant 
food and life to me. A moment later my joy was turned to 
dai'k des])air when on closer o])servation I saw that the sup- 
posed horse was really an immense brown bear. He had 
evidently not seen me. The reader may not believe me, but 
as God is my judge, 1 coolly deliberated for several minutes 
whether or not I should go on down to the stream and if the 
animal attacked me give him battle with my sharp knife. I 
was starving and bear steaks would have been much more 
welcome to me than pure gold; on the other hand I knew I 
was so weak I could hardly stand, let alone fight a bear, which 
would probably kill me outright or wound me badly and leave 
me for dead. I had become desperate, feeling certain that I was 
destined to die of starvation and reasoned that if the bear 
should kill me it would be a. much easier death than the slow 
torture of starvation. My better judgment however prevailed 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 41 

and I watched the bear wander slowly down the stream in the 
very direction I expected to go. 

I made a big- fire, drank some hot water, smoked some willow 
leaves and rolled up in my blankets on some branches 1 laid 
across the forked bonglis of a willow that had been blown down 
almost flat to the ground l)y the wind. I frequently had an 
opportunity to get a comparatively good bed in this way. 
Toward midnight the rain began to })our down and did not 
cease during the night or the next day. 1 did not get out of 
my ])lankets until the morning of the second day after I saw 
the bear. I then "mushed" down to the stream, and the day 
being clear and cold, attempted to make a fire. Everything 
was wet and the proper kind of wood being unavailable I did 
not succeed. Weak and cold, I had to keep moving or almost 
freeze. A half mile or so down the stream I found the ruins 
of an old eglow; it had been made by sticking willow poles 
five or six feet in length into the ground in circular form and 
bringing all the tops of the poles as near together as possible. 
Some brush had then been thrown over these and this in turn 
covered with sod. Time had partially wrecked this shelter, but 
by cutting a little fresh sod with my case knife and putting 
it on I succeeded in getting considerable protection the rest 
of that day and night. I also managed to build a little fire 
inside. It seemed unusually cold that night, considering the 
shelter I had, but when I got up next morning the reason was 
apparent. It had snowed heavily during the night. This 
must have been as early as the middle of August. It did not 
begin to snow regularly until about the first of September. 

The night I slept in this old eglow I thought of a plan by 
which I might get a few mouthful s to eat and wondered that 
the idea had not entered my mind before. I had noticed at 
this and several other places where I had camped in the brush 
that the little birds were very gentle or rather had great curios- 
ity. They would sometimes even alight on my blankets before 
I got up in the morning; the slicker being entirely over my 
head they could not tell that there was any living object 
under the blankets. At tlie first move I made, however, they 
were off like a shot. I imagined that I might be able to kill 
some of them with rocks. I was anxious for morning to 
come that I might tr^"- it. My mind was stronger than my 
body. When I tried the experiment I found I had not force 



42 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

euougli to kill one even if I did hit it. This same over-estima- 
tion of my strength frequently happened in regard to "mush- 
ing". I would wake up in the morning feeling, before I 
moved, strong enough to travel several miles that day. When 
I began to move about, however, I found my renewed strength 
had existed in my mind only. 

After my night 4n the old egiow I started on down the 
stream not knowing what minute I would run against Mr. 
Bruin, and to tell the truth, this matter was not bothering me 
a great deal. I did not meet him again, however, but saw his 
tracks once more on this stream, and once on another stream 
several miles from there. As 1 hobbled along down the creek, 
a cold rain set in. Finally I found a high, perpendicular, 
rocky cliff near the river bank. In the rain I cut with my 
sheath knife as many small poles as I could and making a 
"lean-to" against the lee side of the rock, covered it with 
tundra sod. I succeeded in making a fire under cover of 
this shed. At this place on the creek, nearly in front of my 
eglow, I found a small quantity of the rush plant which I had 
found over at the Arctic. I noticed at my last camping 
place there was some bird, undoubtedly of the snipe 
species, that followed along the stream at night and turned the 
smaller rocks over with its bill, seeking grubs or some kind 
of water bugs. I never saw any of them, but could hear them 
plainly and conceived the idea of making a trap to catch 
them. I spent most of the following day cutting the 
straightest willows T could find. At last I got the trap made, 
including the figure four trigger so often used in "the States". 
I had no bait, but in searching my pockets found a piece of 
red flannel. I set the trap and placed thereon a rock for 
weight. Tired and famished, I struggled back to my 
blankets and crawled in, anxious for morning to come and 
with it the bird feast I anticipated. T arose early and made 
my way down to my trap in the creek bed. When 1 reached 
the bank I was highly elated at the sight before me. There 
was my trap down and the rock still on top. T hurried to it. 
As usual, fate was against me. The trap was empty. I sat 
down on the bank in despair at my disap])ointment. 

In a short time another cold rain started in. I went back 
to my shack and tried to make a fire but could not do it; by 
this time the rain had soaked through the sod and m}'- "lean- 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 43 

to" was leaking like a sieve. M\ l)l;nik('ls, yet iimollcd, were 
getting" quite wet. 'I'liis was one of my darkest hours. T 
realized tluit if I stayed there witlunit being al)]e to drink any 
hot water to warm myself I would get pneumonia or perish 
from exposure and I felt too weak to mush that day. I pro- 
tracted myself as well as I could and shivered in the rain. 
Finally when the downpour stoi)i)ed for a few moments I 
grabbed my blankets and hurriedly packing them together 
some way, threw them over my shoulders and stai'ted down 
the stream. I was in the habit of rolling my blankets in a 
neat, compact bundle, not for the looks, 1)ut to make them 
easier to carry. There is a great knack in doing up blankets. 
Spreading them out flat with about a foot of one end turned 
down, fold both sides to the middle; then tightly roll them, 
beginning at the end not turned down and upon reaching the 
turned down portion of the blanket, you will find this caplike 
end will fit over the roll. 

I staggered along for a few hundred yards and concluded 
to cut across a low "divide" toward my objective point. I 
managed to get across this hill but could get no further. I 
was warmed up a little on account of the exercise, although it 
was still raining and sleeting. I got into some brush on a 
little stream and pulled my blankets over me and the canvas 
and slicker over them. In a few hours it cleared and. began 
to turn warm. In the morning I was able to make a fire and 
get some hot water and could also dry my blankets. 

Weak from my experience of the day before I did not feel 
strong enough to travel. I stayed by the fire, drank hot water, 
smoked willow leaves and passed the time until late in the 
afternoon, then moved my bed to a more comfortable place a 
few feet from where it had been deposited in the hurry of 
the night before. In front of me was a high, tundra-covered 
hill I knew I must scale before rcEiching the stream that would 
carrv me to mv elevated destination. I lay down on the bed 
and gazed; in the gloaming, at the hard climb before me. As 
you will shortly see, this much dreaded hill proved a lucky 
one for me. 

I got up in the morning and tried to catch some of the small 
fish swimming in the creek. I used a little net that 1 had 
stayed up all night to make, about a week before, cutting a 
])iece off the end of my canvas and nni'aveling the twine 



44 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

from it. I tried many times, but never caught a single fish; 
it was too diminutive and the water too plentiful. 

One day early in August I was crossing over a high divide 
and ran almost over a ptarmigan hen with four little chicks, 
evidently hatched a day or two before; as weak as I was, 
I managed to catch the four little ones. Each was only a 
mouthful but I made four meals of them. The second day 
after this I found one, a shade larger, of which I made a 
couple of mouthfuls. The ptarmigan is a bird about the size 
of a young pullet, and in fact, looks very much like one. It is 
brown in summer, but the color changes to pure white in 
winter. It is fully as good eating as any. chicken; in truth 
I think it is better. I may be a little biased in its favor, be- 
cause, as you will learn hereafter, it indirectly saved my life 
twice. Nature especially protects it, for as winter approaches 
feathers come out on its legs all the way down, but in the 
summer they are like those of any ordinary farm-yard 
chicken. Their white color prevents their being seen so easily 
in the snow by animal's and hunters. Their color in summer 
is much the same as the tundra; some of the other animals 
also change color in the same way. 

Well, about ten o'clock I shouldered my blankets and 
started over the divide. By resting every ten feet or so, I 
finally climbed about two-thirds of the way up this tundra- 
covered mountain when, at my feet, I beheld what I took to 
be a beautiful red flower. I was pleased and surprised to 
find this so late in the season, and stooped over to ]^luck it. 
Imagine my astonishment to find that it was a berry. I 
dropped my pack from my back saying aloud, "Thank God; 
if I can find enough of these they may pull me through"; I 
began to hunt for more, only finding a few at this spot l)ut in a 
little wet hollow running down the side of the hill fifty yards 
away, I got thousands of them; in fact the ground was yellow 
with them. I crawled about on my hands and kneet^and ate 
until I was full. I have since learned that thesfe arc called 
salmon lierries; they are red when ripe and yellow when 
over-ripe. It was so late in the season that all I found were 
yellow except on some high, dry spots. They are nearly all 
water and seeds and contain very little nourishment. After 
eating all I could T filled the coffee can and went back to my 
camp of the night before. I boiled those in the can in their 



OR, THE WORT. ITS LONGEST FAST 45 

own juice; there is enough sugar in them to make them 
pahitable. I thought I could keep this jelly to eat if T found 
Jio more berries but got so hungry, however, during tlie niglit 
that I ate it all nj), knowing I could refill the can in the 
morning. 

Next day I felt a little stronger and started out early, 
because I knew I would spend a couple of hours after berries. 
This time I began at the foot of the little hollow and worked 
up, making another discovery right at the start. I saw a 
number of little reddish colored plants growing out of the 
tundra and on them I found a small berry, bluish in color, 
when ripe. I have learned that these are called blueberries; 
in flavor they very much resemble our currant. The blue- 
l)erry bush does not come more than from six to ten inches 
above the sod and the salmonl)erry does not grow on a bush 
at all, but comes right up out of the ground on a little stem. 
I may have walked over some of these berries before and not 
noticed them, as I had always been used to seeing berries grow 
on taller bushes and plants. I did not pay much attention 
to the .blueberry then, as it was much more scarce and harder 
to pick than the other. I hated to leave the spot, but when I 
had eaten all I could and refilled my can, I concluded to go 
on, having been so much delayed in the past few days and 
everything indicated the approach of winter. On the top of 
the divide T walked over a few salmon berries, but I assure 
you I never stepped on them when I could help it; 1 was so glad 
to find them that it seemed to me, in my then frame of mind, 
almost sinful to crush them with my feet. On the other slope 
of the mountain I found even more than on the westerly side. 
The ptarmigan seemed to know a good thing when they saw 
it because here they were thick; I never wanted a gun so 
badly in my life. 

When well down on the easterly side I stopped to rest and 
make up my mind what to do. A startling panorama was 
before me; at the foot of the mountain lay the widest valley 
I had seen in my whole trip, being probably a quarter of a 
mile in width. Heretofore, most of the mountains formed an 
acute angle at their bases; the lower ])a]'t of this mountain was 
covered with a dense thicket of dwarf willows. Directly in 
front of me was an immense glacier, acres in extent and of 
the width of the valley. A big, wide stream of water ran 



46 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

tlirougli a natural tunnel cut in the ice and fed by this glacier 
and others like it which I could see further up the valley; this 
was the slope that was to lead me, by gradual ascent, to the 
elevation I spoke of some pages back. I concluded to camp 
before reaching the bottom because I wanted to be near the 
berries without too much of a climb, so finding a place where 
dead willows were thick I took off my blankets and made a big 
fire, then emptying my berries out of the coffee can into my 
hat, went down to the stream for water; about the first thing 
I came across at the creek was fresh bear tracks — undoubtedly 
my friend of a few days before. He did not make his appear- 
ance again, however, but from the freshness of the sign I am 
satisfied he was in the thicket somewhere. 

I came back to where my fire was burning, boiled some 
salmon l)erries, dried my blankets and made my bed on one 
of the horizontal willow forks heretofore described. I had 
become an expert weather prophet and had in my mind pre- 
dicted rain that night. It soon began to pour down and kept 
it up continuously until late in the afternoon of the next day; 
when it stopped I got out of my wet blankets and 
went up on the hillside after some berries; I found 
that the heavy rain had almost ruined them but 
picked enough to fill my can and a few to eat. 
The grass and bushes were dripping with water and not 
being able to make a fire I was very cold. Before I got back 
to my blankets it began to rain again and did not stop until 
the next morning. T went to bed at once but not to sleep. 
How the rain did pour down during the night! It was frigid 
and I almost froze in my blankets. Toward morning the rain 
stop])ed a little and I concluded that the best thing I could 
do, not being able to build a fire, was to "mush" along as 
fast as 1 could and try to get some animal heat into my ^oor, 
cold l)ody. Eating a few berries, I rolled my blankets and 
started. Getting around the big glacier I found the most 
interesting creek I had l)een on during the trip. On either 
side of me were rough, rugged mountains, their almost perpen- 
dicular sides forming the boundary of this valley. 

Below eacli glacier, along the banks of the stream, I found 
a substance that at first I thought was good to eat, l)ut ] got 
l)adly fooled, it was white and of about the consistency and 
appearance of soft taffy candy, but when I tasted it I became 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 47 

satisfied it was some coiiiliinjitioii of lime, and tliorefore not 
nutritions. As J went on np tins little valley cold sliowers 
of rain frequently impeded my })rogress. Finally, an im- 
mense ledge of rock came into view near the center of the 
valley. I got on the lee side of this until the showers luid 
stoi)])ed coming so fre(iuently. There was a temptation to 
cam]) there, hut I could not find any dry wood to make a fire 
and my hiankets Ix'ing very wet I soon "folded my tent like 
the Arabs and as silently stole away." 

Late that evening I found a good camping ])lace with plenty 
of wood and still having a few of the salmon berries left, 
ate them, and tied myself up in my l)lankets. The weather 
had cleared but as usual it became frosty. I woke up during 
the night and found myself groaning with the cold; next day 
I was too weak to travel, although the weather was beautiful 
■ — clear, bright and cold. After resting up a day I felt 
a little stronger and succeeded in reaching the liigh elevation 
mentioned some pages back. About the time 1 got to the 
top a heavy driving mist began to come in. I could see 
nothing and hurried to the lee of a big ledge of rocks to make 
my bed. I found I was not yet on the highest part of the 
mountain, l)ut concluded to wait until morning where I was, 
hoping the weather would clear, I awoke early but it was 
still blowing and raining; I managed to roll my blankets and 
carry them up the rocky mountain to a kind of cave in the 
cliff of rocks, still several hundred yards fron) the top. 
Although it rained hard during the night, I slept quite snugly. 

In the morning the weather cleared a little, l)ut not enough 
to allow me to get a view of my surroundings. There was 
absolutely no plant or grass of any kind that 1 could eat on this 
rocky height. The water u}) here was only such as is con- 
tained in the tundra pools and I could not go down to the 
creek at the foot, as the trip back would be more than 1 could 
stand. 

While sitting under the projecting and ])rotecting end of 
a large rock, meditating, 1 spied on the ground near me, a snudl 
snail or periwinkle; to fall over and grab it was the work of 
but a few seconds. Looking around I found a few more in 
that immediate vicinity, but hobbling over to a low, damp, 
rocky swale near by, I found hundreds of them. 1 dropped 
down on my hand and knees and followed u}) this damp ])lace 



48 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLT) 

cracking periwinkles with my teeth as I would hazelnuts, and 
swallowing the tiny morsel therein contained. Although the 
meat in the shell was no larger than a quail shot, by eating a 
great many of them, I f eJt a little strengthened. I was at this 
place four days before the fog and mist cleared sufficiently 
for me to get a view. I hated the delay, knowing it was get- 
ting late in the season and that the terrors of an Arctic 
winter would soon begin in earnest, but, on the other hand, it 
was all-important that I should acquire the information I could 
only get here. 

The fourth morning broke clear and bright; leaving my 
blankets where they were, I ascended the balance of the climb 
to the mountain top. Sure enough, I could see the low place 
through the mountains distinctly, and the desolate looking Arc- 
tic Ocean in the near distance, a marshy lake-covered tundra, 
miles in extent, lying between it and me. The pass through 
the mountains to the south looked better; it had the appear- 
ance of low hills and far, far in the distance I could see, appar- 
ently near the end of this mountain pass, two tall peaks, almost 
exactly alike in appearance. My mind was at once made up. 
I would head for those twins. Returning to camp I ate a few 
snails and started. I noticed one peculiarity about these 
snails; one hour there would be an abundance, the next there 
would not be one in sight. I suppose this must have been 
on account of the changes in the temperature; I can think of 
no other reason. 



CHAPTER IV. 

STRUGGLING HOMEWARD. 

i could see from my position that it would be necessary for 
me to go toward the southwest for awhile, although the pass lay 
directly to the south of me. There were a couple of high, l)ald 
mountains directly in the way. 

The wind and sleet had come again, but not heavily as yet, 
so making a neat roll of my blankets, I started. For several 
miles 1 tramped over the worst of upland tundra. It was a 
i-ocky, wet plateau immediately overlooking the glacier valley 
up which J had come. I could, if 1 had had my usual strength. 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 49 

Iiavo llirowii a I'ock down i]\o pcrixMidiculai' side to ilie stream 
on wliicli I liad camiKHl several times. 

As the time passed on, the cold easterly wind hlew tiie 
sleet in cutting gusts; I was wet and shivering with cold. 
The top of this mountain was very rocky; indeed, at places 
there were immense ciift's. During one of the worst showers 
1 got in between two enormous boulders to protect myself. I 
was sitting there, damj), dislieartened and full of meditation, 
when a moving object passed before my retina and I was con- 
scious of some animal before me. I did not realize its size 
at first, but wlien I got a good look at it, I saw it Avas a hirge, 
black fox. AVhen I first saw it, it was coming directly toward 
my rock, in a dog trot. Presently it saw me, stopped a 
moment, threw its pretty head to one side, and made a semi- 
circle around me. Oh, liow often after tliat I wished that it 
had had a ptarmigan or other bird in its mouth! I am sure 
it would have dropped it from fright. 

After the heavy shower was over I mushed along, an hour r 
so later coming to the largest cliff I had seen on the mountain. 
Although it was beginning to grow dark I could still plainly see 
my starting point. In this huge mass of rocks I found the 
best protected sleeping place of the trip. I was cold, thirsty 
and hungry; there was no running water and no wood. With- 
out a mouthful of anything, I gi t into my blankets. It rained 
almost incessantl)^, but not a drop could strike me. As usual, 
1 dreamed of food all night, after I got to sleep. This is one 
of the peculiarities of starvation. My every thought, almost, 
while lying awake was of something to eat. It is astonishing 
liow your memory will run back clearly and distinctly to the 
minute details of meals you had years before, and which in 
your normal condition you had entirely forgotten. You will 
even remember what position you occupied at the table; 
whether the meat was well done or rare, and which dish you 
liked best. , For weeks, after the first few days, it is safe 
to say I never had a dream that did not contain a meal. I 
ate, in my imagination, all varieties of meals from the finest 
French dinner to, the most humble ''kow-kow" I ever had in 
Alaska. I would see great stacks of all kinds of canned 
goods; the label on each can was plain to me. Meats seemed 
to predominate, but the numerous other canned stuffs that we 
have in this countrv were much in evidence. 



50 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

During my trip on the Thrasher 1 was very much interested 
in a story I read of a man who was lost in the Alps and who 
was finally rescued by some monks and their St. Bernard 
dogs from a monastery in the wildest and roughest part of 
that country. Twice during my terrible trip I dreamed I 
came to a monastery, where I was well fed and attended 
medically and when I recovered, was sent, accompanied by 
a guide, to my destination. 

The odd thing about these dreams was that I seemed to 
enjo}^ the meal in reality. Unlike Tantalus, the food was 
always within my reach; many a nice, thick, juicy beefsteak 
did I devour in my sleeping moments. But, oh, the awaken- 
ing was awful! I seemed to feel the pangs of hunger much 
more than if I had never had the dream. 

Next morning after the camp on the mountain top, I 
crawled out of my little cave and looked about for snails. I 
could find none, although I was not more than a mile and a 
half from where I had found many of them. The weather 
had cleared, but was still threatening. In the distance I could 
see a stream running past the foot of this mountain. There 
appeared to be plenty of wood on it, and in the Alaskan slang, 
"it looked good to me". Slowly I climbed over the rocky, 
wet tundra of the mountain side, resting at frequent intervals. 
Near the bottom were a num])er of scattered scrub willows. 
1 lay down by one of these to rest for a few minutes. While 
reclining on my elbow on the wet ground, my slicker protect- 
ing me from the dampness, I saw near me a snail. I ardently 
seized it, ate it and hunted for more. I found quite a number. 
It was strange I should find them in this unlikely place and not 
on the top of the divide among the rocks. After eating all the 
snails I could find I went on down to the creek. At the foot 
of the mountain, on the bank of a stream, I found a fine 
mineral spring. There are a large number of these in this 
part of Alaska and some of them rival the most noted springs 
of "the States". There are two very fine ones near Teller. 

Leaving the spring I staggered on down the creek through 
the brush, looking for a good camping place. I was always 
glad to follow a creek; it was so much better walking than 
on the rough tundra. Unless the stream is too large, you 
can nearly always take advantage of the gravel bars and in 
some places the walking is as good as on a sidewalk. I finally 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 51 

IohikI a ]»la('(> with jilciity of dry wood and dropped my 
Idankets. Tlio wind was hlowiiii*' <|uiti' briskly, so I bron^lit 
some rocks ii]> from the i-iver bed and made a wind-break for 
the fire, to the lee of some thick brush, 1 tried to cook some 
leaves I fonnd on the bank of tlie stream but could not eat 
them. 

1 made my usual l)()ugh bed and after a smoke of willow 
leaves went to my couch, it rained during the nio,ht l)ut ch^ared 
in the morning. 1 arose early and going up on the bank among 
the bushes, found a few snails. 1 could not make a fire 
so rolled up ui}' blankets and started on down the stream but 
was not able to go more than half a mile. 

My next camp was about a third of the way up a divide T 
had to cross to get to my point of destination. There was the 
usual routine at this place. The following morning, a few 
hundred feet higher up on the hillside, I found some more 
snails near a small cliiT. I made the best "mush" that day 
I had made during the latter part of my trip. The snails 
seemed to have strengthened me somewhat. Late that even- 
ing I reached a likely looking stream about eight feet wide 
and apparently running due east, past the low place in the 
mountains for which I was aiming. I came to a halt in some 
thick brush on the bank of this creek. To my surprise the 
morning dawned clear, cold and sunny. This stream was full 
of trout of all sizes. Oh, how they used to annoy me! They 
would sport about in the water, seeming to know that T, a 
poor starving mortal, was watching them. 1 happened to 
have a supply of white thread in my pocket. I took a piece 
of this about twenty-eight feet long and twisting and rolling 
it together, made a kind of a fish line. I had nothing to make 
a fish hook out of except a large safety pin. I bent this as 
nearly in shape as possible and cutting a little rod, tried my 
luck, having for bait the same piece of red flannel with which 
I had tried to catch the birds some days before. Patiently I 
waited for a bite. Carefully I slipped up to the foot of the 
ripples. Not a bite did I get. Then I got down below a 
small waterfall and tried to build a rock dam, thinking I might 
catch what fish there were in the enclosure. I managed to 
get a few rocks together but found that ^in my feeble con- 
dition it would take me a week to finish it and then perhaps 
not be al)le to catch a fish. 



52 STARVING ON A BED OP GOLD 

Next morninj^ bright and early I started down this com- 
paratively small brook, not dreaming I was destined to follow 
it week after week nntil it became a mighty river and a month 
later be found dying on its banks. During the day I gathered 
a small cupful of l)lueberries in a spot on the stream, but they 
were so scarce that it took me several hours to get even so 
many. By the time I finished picking them it was dark, but 
I was in a convenient place to stop for the night. 

My next camp was unimportant, but the following day was 
a serious one ta me. I felt particularly weak; a short 
time after I had started one of those cold, snow-charged 
rains that I dreaded so much began; I could find no 
place to camp. It seemed as if there was nothing to do but 
to spread my lilankets in the cold, drenching rain, without 
shelter. The little river had made a complete semi-circle 
around a high, lone mountain. It did seem to me I should 
freeze if I had to stop, under the existing conditions. Finally 
I came to some brush, just where the river took a segment 
off the circle at the base of the mountain, but it was still 
raining nor did it stop for a single minute, so I kept on. 
I thought I saw a protecting cave in the mountain side. Trying 
it I found that it was too shallow and was in slate rock, which 
being wet, was as dirty as if covered with soot. I gave this 
up in despair, finally seeking the wet scrub willows on the 
bank. They kept very little rain off; in fact I do not know 
but their constant dripping made it more unpleasant. I sluug 
my blankets off ni}^ back in a hurry and throwing them down on 
the wet ground, crawled into them; I had no time to cut boughs 
this night and was very much afraid that in my weak con- 
dition I would get the dread pneumonia. This was indeed 
another of my darkest hours, but as the dawn succeeds the 
darkness of the night, so I found a little ray of light next 
morning. 

It had stopped raining and I got up early, and leaving my 
blankets hurried across the creek to where I could see a 
prospect for berries. I was mistaken; there were none, but T 
found something that gave me great comfort. Within ten 
yards of where I slept there were the tracks of two men, 
evidently made about two weeks before. The brush they had 
cut was not dry yet. When I crossed the creek I found tlieii* 
dead camp fire. Looking around I saw a thick piece of bacon 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 53 

riiid; I staggered to tliis aii;l gi'al)l)iiig it, placed it to my 
mouth, then hesitated. I had lieon about receiving hovspitals 
a great deal and knew the danger of ptomaine poisoning. 
This bacon was partly decayed and I dared not eat it. A 
second time I put it to my mouth thinking 1 would take a bite 
of the part tliat seemed the least decayed. Again T hesitated. 
If I desired to kill myself I still had my sharp sni-geon's knife 
and need not die by slow ]ioison, a death of ten-ible suffering. 
The thickness of the rind attracted my attention. I thought 
what a generous fellow the cook must have been. AVell, the 
result was I did not eat the toothsome morsel. I could not 
find anything else around l)ut a piece of baling rope that after- 
wards stood me in good stead. These fellows had taken what 
few dead willows there were, so I could not make a fire. I saw 
nothing to do but ''mush" on, and this I did. 

As I went along I found that the two men had gone down 
the stream also; in fact they were the most entertaining com- 
pany I had all the rest of my terrible trip; they never left 
the stream. The reader can not realize how much company 
those footprints were for me. I knew that in all probability 
these men were headed for civilization; if so, I was on the right 
track. For the next couple of days nothing outside the regular, 
simple routine of my camp life occurred. 

Near noon, on the third day, I saw I was approaching the 
low line through the mountains. I came very nearly turning 
off in the same direction once or twice before I arrived there. 
I then found the pass was only low hills and I came to a 
couple of big forks flowing into my stream from that side. 
I figured that such large streams must draw from an extensive 
watershed and by taking one of these branches I might thus 
save considerable distance. Fate favored me this time and 
I went on down the main river. If I had turned off, weak as 
I was, I would surely have perished. When I finally got within 
a few hundred yards of the pass I could see that either this 
main river turned almost at right angles and ran through it 
or a stream was running out of it into the river I was on. 
Notwithstanding these good indications I could follow with my 
eye a line of green willows for miles toward the Arctic that 
seemed to be a continuation of those along the bank where 
I was. Imagine my joy upon reaching the all-important spot 
to find that the river I had been following for many days, 



54 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

turned almost at riglit angles and ran due south, through this 
low place in the mountains, the very direction I wanted to go. 
Another large stream, coming from the direction of the Arctic, 
emptied into it just where it turned. Hope, which at this 
time was at a very low ebh, began to revive. I soon found, 
however, that traveling on this now wide, rushing body of 
water was not what it had been; up to the last few miles I 
could cross and recross, and taking advantage of the gravel 
l)ars, have very good walking. Now for several hundred yards 
on either side of the river there was a low, marshy tundra 
into which I would sink above the knees at every step. Some- 
times dense groves of willows lined the immediate vicinity 
of the banks and these generally grew out of pools of stagnant 
water. I found really better "mushing" just above the outer 
edge of this marsh at the foot of the mountain, but even this 
was abominable. 

A couple of miles below the bend of the river, I came to a 
point where it had cut away a precipitous side of the mountain, 
leaving an almost inaccessible cliif. I was in a dilemma. I 
could not ford the stream and, skeleton that I was, did not 
believe I could scale the clitf, yet I tried it. I failed, but found 
several acres of blueberries. Being the westerly slope, rain 
and heavy winds could not strike it so well, hence they were 
very plentiful. It was the only place I ever found these 
berries in their ])rime; there were a few green ones. I kept 
these and ate all the ripe ones I could. I was more anxious 
for the green ones because they would keep and not mash in' 
my pockets. I had nothing to put the ripe ones in but the 
little half-pound coffee can. After picking what berries I 
could, 1 concluded to camp and try the cliff in the morning 
when 1 was fresh. It was impossible to find a good place to 
spread my blankets — the low land was so wet and the moun- 
tain side so steep. I finally bent some willows over and putting 
j)lenty of boughs on these, managed to keep out of the water. 

During the night the usual cold rain set in and lasted until 
about nine next morning; shortly after it stopped I arose, ate 
what ri]:>e berries T had in the can and rolled u]) my 
blankets. Once in a while I could hear a big fish junij) out of 
the deep water after a fly, so I resolved to try my school-boy fish 
line, which I still had with me, but with my usual success — 
nil. IMlling up my thread and safety pin hook I ran my arms 



OR, Til 10 WORLDS LONGEST FAST 55 

through tlic blanket pack straps and made a desperate effort 
to scale the cliff, finally succeeding. On top I found a fresh 
supply of blueberries, but no green ones. I ate a few more 
and began to fill the can. With one exception, this was the 
last 1 ever found. 

Within the next day or so winter set in in dead earnest; the 
high mountains and even the low hills on either side of me, 
were covered with snow all the time. In the daytime the cold 
wind blowing over this cut right through my clothes. My 
face and hands almost froze as I had little blood left to keep 
me warm. At night my suffering was even still more intense. 
This reminds me of a story that a friend of mine from (Cal- 
ifornia, John J. O'Leary, tells. 

AVhile personally I do not feel in the humor for joking, 
especially over a matter that was at one time so serious to me, 
still I realize that my readers may enjoy the yarn. It seems 
that a man who had -been in Alaska for several years always 
expressed a desire to be cremated; he froze to death a year or 
so ago. His friends took his body out on a boat to one of 
the large cities; it arrived at its destination and was taken 
directly to the crematory from the ship; the body was i)re- 
pared and placed in the metallic box used in these places. The 
furnace was heated to that terrific heat necessary for incin- 
eration; they slid the box in and left it for several hours. At 
the usual time they opened the furnace doors expecting to 
see but a few cups of ashes left. The fellow rose up in the box 
and said, "Shut that door. This is the first time I have been 
comfortably warm since I started to Alaska five years ago. ' ' 

Nothing of unusual importance happened during the next 
few days; I was on the lookout all the time for berries, but 
it was too late in the season; at one place I found a cupful of 
them, but even they were almost decayed. The time of year 
had arrived when there was absolutel}^ nothing edible grow- 
ing. AVhat few plants that came with the summer sun had 
gone with the winter blasts. T had frequently looked for more 
periwinkles but never found them. Day after day never a 
morsel of anything" but hot water passed my lips. 

One day I came to a place where the river ran through a 
deep cut in the mountains; it was simi)ly impossible to travel 
along the cliff, but by wading along the edge of the river I 
could just get by. At one sjiot whei-e there was a little turn in 



56 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

the stream I discovered a set of footprints going up and a set 
coming down. I wanted to see if these were made by two 
different men, or the same man ascending the river and then 
descending. If made by different men the fellow who went 
up might be coming back in time to pick me up. The tracks 
looked to be the same size but I concluded to measure them, 
and reaching over to the bank and pulling a twig from a bush, 
stooped over to make the measurement. I found them the 
same length and evidently made by the same man. I rose 
slowly and just as I stood straight everything turned black 
before my eyes. I heard, but did not feel, a dull thud. I had 
fainted. I do not know how long I lay there, but distinctly 
remember, either in going into or coming out of the faint, 
saying aloud, "My God! Is this death?" I had been expect- 
ing death for many days and suppose it was on my mind 
at this moment. Slowly, consciousness came back. My first 
rational thought was, "I am lost"; then everything was clear 
to me again. When I examined myself, I found no mud on 
my clothes, but quite a little on the blankets. I had evidently 
fallen squarely on my back. I found a piece of the bush that 
was growing on the bank, in my hand. Many times when I 
had stooped over, hunting for berries or plants, I had felt on 
the verge of fainting, but found if I raised up slowly, the 
feeling would pass away. I never fainted before in my life, 
and never since. 

I felt no ill effect from the fainting spell and "mushed" 
along slowly down the stream, I tried dozens of times to 
cross the river but never succeeded. I had numy narrow 
escapes from falling on the slippery rocks. I would probably 
have drowned if I had, for besides being so weak, I had my 
twenty-five pound ])ack of blankets strapped to my back. The 
side I was on seemed much worse for "mushing" than the 
opposite one. 

Finally, late, in the afternoon of one day about this time, 
1 came to an island in the river containing several acres; the 
stream adjacent thereto was broad and apparently shallower 
than I had before seen it; after considei'able effort I managed 
to cross to the island; here I rested and attempted the other 
branch. It was too deep and too swift for me to cross. I 
felt very tired and as there were some nice, large willows on 
the island, concluded to camp. While I was making, a fire 



OR, THIO WORLDS LONGRST FAST 57 

to lioat SOUK' water it began to rain. Luckily there were some 
lari^e chiiiiits of willows wliicli had caught a great deal of 
driftwood and brush at high water. By getting to the lee of 
one of these I had pretty good i)rotection. J liurriedly cut my 
bouglis for a bed before the rain had wet them badly. After 
sitting around the fire and drinking hot water for a time, I 
got into my bhmkets. it rained all night and when morning 
came 1 found the river had risen considera])ly and I was a 
jjrisoner. There w^as nothing serious about this except the 
delay, for the rain had stopped and the weather had turned 
cold again. After a few hours I was able to re-cross to the 
mainland but there was troul)le ahead. A high cliff faced the 
stream as far as the eye could see. It took me all the rest of 
the day to go about a quarter of a mile. In getting even that 
far I had to crawl along, inch by inch, over the immense boul- 
ders, some of which projected several feet into the stream. 
The crevices and open places between the rocks were filled 
with a dense growth of brush, making them well nigh im- 
passable. I had a very bad place to camp that night but for- 
tunately it did not rain. 

Next day the traveling w-as a little easier and along toward 
evening I arrived at what seemed to be a place wdiere two 
men had camped sometime before. The doul)le set of tracks 
that I had frequently seen on gravel bars further up the 
stream were plain; remains of a dead camp fire w^ere near the 
bank. My heart jumped for joy when, on looking into the 
bushes a few feet away, I beheld a salmon of large size. 1 
staggered to it as rapidly as my legs would carry me, but 
horror! it w^as rotten; the roe and maggots ran out in a stream 
together. Notwithstanding all this, I would have eaten it 
with a relish, except for the reason heretofore given in the 
case of the bacon rind. I could hardly resist taking the chance 
anyway. After I W'as rescued, my mining partner, formerly 
a surgeon at the San Francisco Receiving Hospital, informed 
me that ptomaine poisoning was only generated at the time 
the decay took i)lace, but not after it was completed. 

Reluctantly I started on down the stream. At this period of 
my trip I w^as compelled to rest every few feet. While sit- 
ting resting I would pick out some object a little way ahead 
and endeavor to reach it next time, without stopping before 
I got to it. 



58 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

An hour or so later I arrived at what seemed to he a general 
camping place for all the ''mushers" who had passed during 
the season and found nearly a dozen dead fires, and for the 
first time found a camp where there were any tin cans; here 
there were quite a number. I searched each one thinking 
there might be a morsel left. I finally came to a small glass 
pickle bottle. "Thank God!" I said, "here is something in 
this". I took out the cork which was loosely in the neck and 
tasted the liquid. It was the strongest vinegar, but only about 
a wineglassful. In it I found about a third of a small cucum- 
ber pickle and a piece of cauliflower about the size of 
my thumb to the first joint. I also found about a dozen little 
black i^eppers. Gentle reader, you do not know how I en- 
joyed each of these ingredients. The vinegar was just what 
I craved; the taste of the pickle was like nectar; the peppers 
warmed up my stomach and I could taste them for hours 
afterward. You can hardly imagine how the labels on the 
cans tantalized me. My imagination ran wild at the sight. I 
concluded to be fashionable and camp here. I did not have 
to cut any brush; it was already cut and dried. 

I felt elated over the outlook. It assured me T was nearing 
civilization, but I noticed frequently during this long trip 
that if things looked bright one hour, they looked correspond- 
ingly dark the next. Shortly after I went to bed a cold rain 
set in. It poured all night long; I had no shelter of any 
kind; in fact the place was very much exposed to wind and 
r^in and it surprised me that so many campers stopped here. 
It was still raining when I woke in the morning, but getting 
up between showers I started, having first gathered up 
nearly all the best cans and the bottle and placed them 
in my pack; these made additional weight and . a very 
unwieldy package to carry. I was determined, however, 
if I found any more l)erries to have something to carry them in. 

A few hundred yards down the river I found a very wide 
place and after several attempts succeeded in crossing. The 
cold sleet which had been beating me in the face from the 
time I left camp was now pouring down and becoming unbear- 
able. Of all the cold and exposure I had had on this awful trip, 
this was the worst. I began to feel that I could stand it no 
longer. Still, knowing that to stop was almost sure death, I 
kept going. I finally got into a clump of willows and tried 



OR, THE WORT.D'S LONGEST FAST 59 

to make a fire. The willows were dripping with water and 
I conld get no dry tips so I had to give it np after wasting 
three matches. To stop was to freeze, so I stumbled along. 
This was another of my darkest hours. 1 came to 
a grove of quite large willows. They were in a kind of 
marsh where the water was several inches dee]), l)ut finding one 
that the wind had blown over I put some boughs across the 
forks as heretofore described. In des})eration I got into 
my blankets. I could not sleep for many hours but it soon 
turned a little warmer and stopped raining and sleeting. 
Sleep finally came and when 1 awoke the sun was shining 
brightly; it was morning; bright sunshine was something I 
had not enjoyed for many days. I took my things out to a 
sand bar near the river bank, spread my blankets on some 
bushes to dry and made a fire. After eating a hearty break- 
fast of hot water and imagination, I basked in the sun, and 
smoked willow leaves for an hour or so. I would probably 
have rested considerably longer if 1 had not seen signs of an 
approaching wind or rain storm. Experience had made me 
quite a weather prophet. I knew that if I desired to make 
any headway that daj^ I would have to be moving along in 
a hurry; besides, I was anxious to find a more protected camp- 
ing place. I did not start any too soon, for I had not gone 
more than a quarter of a mile before one of those cold, sleet- 
ing rains began; it was not quite so bad as the one of the pre- 
vious day, but was very weakening to me. 

After a time I came to a fairly good camping location and 
was soon in my blankets again. I had frequent regrets for 
crossing the river; so far, I had found no berries or roots. 1 
imagined several times I could see protected spots across the 
stream where I was almost sure there were a few left. 

I slept unusually well that night and as the morning dawned 
clear and warmer, I felt my hope thermometer rise a little. 
The last taste of food I had was the little nibble of pickle I 
had found several days before. After making a fire and 
heating some water I rolled up my blankets and was soon on 
my way, being fortunate enough to find several long gravel 
bars ahead of me, but even on these I found I had to take a 
long rest every twent}' or thirty feet. 

After some hours the good walking gave out and the river 
bank became thickly lined with dense, wild, well nigh impass- 



60 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

able willow groves. The wind as usual had played sad havoc, 
and there were as many dead as live ones. "Mushing" 
through this tangled mass would hav6 been slow work for a 
strong man, but I traveled at a snail's pace; many a bad fall 
] received, being too weak to catch myself when I stumbled. 
Early in the afternoon I came to an old channel of the river. 
The stream had evidently in former years made a semi- 
circular bend in towards the foothills, on the side on which I 
then was. In some manner it had straightened itself and now 
ran its direct course. At first I thought I had come to a dry 
creek from the mountains, but this seemed impossible at this 
time of the year, and I soon came to the right conclusion. I 
at once determined to follow the old river bed, noticing a 
number of foot tracks in the damp gravel, and among them 
those of the two men I had been following for weeks. By 
the time I had completed the semi-circle I was very tired. In 
front of me on the bank was a large clump of willows. I strug- 
gled through them for awhile, until I came to a little 
knoll, where 1 concluded to camp. I noticed that 
between the river and the foothills there was a very 
bad looking marsh of several hundred acres, but thought, 
in the morning, I would continue down the bank and avoid 
this. Dropping my pack from my back, 1 began collecting 
wood for a fire. There was more nice, dry wood here than I 
had found at any other place on my entire trip. Within a 
space of ten feet I was able to collect wood enough for a big 
camp fire. My blankets needed drying badly and I was glad 
to have so good an opportunity to dry them. 

At one side of this elevation was a little "nigger-head" 
swale, it l)eing about fifteen feet, I should judge, from the 
top down to the water in this sluggish stream, which,, by the 
way, seemed to empty into the main river. The knoll upon 
which I was camped was between this nigger-head swale 
and the dry channel which 1 had come down. I cut some 
houghs for my bed, and laid them sloping down hill; this still 
left probably eight or ten feet between the foot of my bed and 
the shallow water l)elow me. 1 made a big fire, dried by l)ed- 
clothes and got into them; being very tired I went to sleep 
much sooner than usual. About .eleven o'clock in the night 
1 was awakened by rain, but this was nothing new to me. 
Besides, the weather seemed unusual 1>- wai'in, so pulling in the 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 61 

outside edges of my blankets as niucli as possible to keep 
tliem dry, I dozed off to sleep again. 

In the morning it was stifl raining and 1 did not get up tliat 
day. About twelve on the second night 1 had a sensation that 
felt as though my feet were in water; when 1 eanie to think 
of tlie distance down to the '^ nigger-heads" F was sure I must 
be mistaken. Lying there, half awake, for some moments, J 
still had that peculiar feeling, and though as usual, 1 had 
tied myself in my blankets,. I managed to reach my hands down 
to my feet. To my horror the water was up to my ankles. 
I then realized that the warm rain must have melted the 
snow on the low hills and that 1 was in a rushing, roaring 
flood. As I listened I could hear that i)eculiar rumble so well 
known to every one who has ever been in a flood. Dark as 
it was I could see by the glinting on the water that the old 
channel, along which I had come into this place, was also lull 
to overflowing. Untying my blanket rope I managed, in the 
rain and wet, to push some of the boughs a couple of feet fur- 
ther up the knoll and pull myself on to them, never dreaming 
the water could get any higher. I dozed otf again shortly, 
(for some reason I felt unusually drowsy) but in an hour or 
so I was again awakened and putting my hand down found 
the water a little above my knees; the rain was still pouring 
down. Jumping up as quickly as my physical condition would 
permit me, I reached for my rubber boots where 1 remembered 
having left them. I found them in the water; one sock had 
washed away. Pouring the water out of my boots I pulled 
them on. I had hung my haversack on a limb; this I easily 
got. All my cans except a couple, had washed away. The 
lower part of my blankets were of course soaked with water. 
In the dark I pulled them and my other things to the very 
top of the knoll and throwing the single blanket down against 
a small willow tree, sat down on it with my back against the 
shrub and drew the dryer part of my double blanket over me. 
The drowsy spell overpowered me again in a few minutes, 
and a half hour or so afterward my shoulder slipped on the 
tree and instinctively I threw out my hand to the ground to 
catch myself. I was suddenly awakened by clapping m\- 
hand into several inches of water. Here was a terrible sit- 
uation. I knew this was the highest point, it was still pitch 
dark, except that I could see a little gliunnering on tiie water 



STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 
62 

all around me. I could hear the maddening rush and roar 
of the angry waters on all sides, and knew not what to do or 
which way to turn. It was evident that the freshet was 
growing in force and volume every moment. I knew I could 
not get out through the swamp for that was probably now a 
deep lake. Neither could I retrace my steps, for as I said 
before, I could see that the channel was overflowing its banks; 
there was one possible chance; I might keep along the high 
edge of the river. With my haversack over my shoulder and 
dragging my blankets, I tried this. After a few yards' travel 
I found there was no hope in this direction. I could not have 
done it even if I had been strong, for there was no spot so high 
as the knoll I was on. Every step took me deeper and deeper 
until in a few yards I was to the top of my rubber boots in 
water. Daylight began to break by this time and in the dawn 
I could see an unusually large scrub willow standing in the 
rushing water. Its forks were several feet above the surface. 
I threw my smaller blanket into the crotch of another tree and 
still dragging my double blanket, struggled to this one. With 
strength born of desperation I managed to get between its pro- 
tecting limbs; my Aveight, poor as I was, pulled it down until 
I began to fear it would be no higher than the knoll. How- 
ever, when I got quiet I found I was at the highest accessible 
])oint. I held tightly to the top fork to keep it from splitting, 
as this wood splits very easily and I knew that to fall on my 
l)a('k in that water was to drown. With one hand I managed 
to get the blanket over me and this broke the rain to some 
extent. I did not dare allow m3^self to doze now. 

Dawn soon turned to broad daylight. I watched tlie trunk 
of that tree as a cat watches a mouse. By the liml) marks I 
could see that the water was still rapidly rising. I would no- 
tice a spot on the trunk an inch or so above the water line and 
ill a few minutes it was covered. Finally the water came 
uj) to within, probably, a foot of me. I saw death at my side. 
My dear reader, I speak truly when I say I prayed, of the 
IwT) manner of deaths now before me, if I had to go by either 
one, that I be given death by drowning. For weeks I had cal- 
cuhited that the chances of starvation were as a hundred to 
one. All at once the water stopped rising and remained 
stationary for several minutes. Then it began to recede. 

I watched it going down as rapidly as it came up. Soon I 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST F^AST 63 

becamo drowsy again and jMitting some more boughs across 
the liml) I was on, fell into a deep sleep. When I awoke some 
hours afterward, the water had run off and the ground under 
me was comparatively dry; the rain had stopped and a heavy 
drjdng wind was blowing. I was shivering with cold. What 
could be done? T did not like this drowsiness that iiad taken 
possession of me and deemed it a bad sign, as my senses had 
all been so acute before. I knew if I had some hot water I 
could soon warm myself, but did not think there w^as any 
chance to make a fire with everything so wet. 1 tried it, how- 
ever, and luckily was successful at the second match. The wind 
had dried the willow tips. I could not make a big one as I did 
the first night though, ])ut still had plenty of hot water and dried 
my blankets some. They were so wet I could not get them 
entirely dry. I do not know what I should have done if I had 
not gotten the hot water, because in my weak condition I 
would very likely have died of pneumonia that night. 1 could 
not warm up by ''mushing" as I did once or twice ])efore under 
similar circumstances. I cut some dry boughs and went to 
bed early, feeling too weak to try to get out of the swamp 
that day; in fact my dreadful experience of the night liefore 
had taken almost every particle of strength I had left. It 
was the beginning of the end. Drinking some more hot 
water, and with no taste of grass or anything else, I went to 
bed and to sleep. 

The sun came up clear and bright next morning and I man- 
aged to arise from my blankets, but staggering, fell against 
a tree, not fainting, however. I rolled my blankets after a 
great effort, and shouldering them tottered through the 
willows down the stream. After traveling about a quarter of 
a mile I came to an unexpected obstacle in the shape of a 
deep creek, the result of the flood, emptying into the main 
river. Oh, how I did hate to retrace my steps over that rough 
ground and through the tangled brush, but it had to be done 
and I did it. To cross the swamp was then my only recourse, 
as the old channel was still full of water. I started but could 
not take over ten steps without stopping. I could neither sit 
nor lie down on account of the deep morass, but had to rest 
standing. I fell in the muck a number of times, but by sheer 
will power, struggled on, as 1 did not want to die in this miiv. 



64 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

About sundown I arrived at tlie outer bank and exhausted, 
crawled into my blankets. 

The next day was not a bad one; still I did not have sufficient 
strength to get up and "mush" along, although I knew that 
every day of delay was now reducing what little chance of 
rescue I might have. I slept all day. Toward evening it 
began to snow, and kept it up at intervals all night. I had 
arrived at that stage where I seldom dreamed of good things 
to eat. As I have already said, in the earlier stages every 
dream was of the dining table. When morning came I found a 
sleeting, cold, windy day. I determined to make at least one 
more effort, so, near the middle of the forenoon, I staggered to 
my feet, made a fire and boiled some tundra water. This 
warmed me a little. Every half hour or so a heavy snowstorm 
would pass over. During the couple of warm days, while I 
was having my experience in the swamp, most of the snow on 
the -lower foothills had melted off, but now again they were 
white, and the wind that blew over them was piercing. I had 
a hard time rolling my blankets that morning. There were 
very few sparks of vital energy left in my poor frame. To 
make matters worse, another dismal swamp was to be crossed; 
otherwise I would have had to take what seemed an even 
worse trip around it. It was not quite so wide as the last one, 
Init I had a dread of dying like a poor old farmyard cow in 
a i:)asture bog. With my pack on my back, I could hardly 
stand up straight, let alone accomplish the fearful task before 
me. Something had to be done — I must either give up and 
lie down never to rise again, or make an effort to proceed. 
With a dogged perseverance I did not know was in me, I 
started. A cold shiver ran through me, as I staggered through 
the tundra of the hillside, into the morass; it began snowing 
again just as 1 started. Slowly, step by step, for hours ] 
writhed and struggled through this slime, falling a number 
of times, fearing each time that T would not be able to rise 
again. 

On a little dry spot about half way across, I found an old 
]^tarmigan nest, and saw that it contained one egg about the 
size of a pullet's. With a haste you can well imagine, I broke 
it; there was nothing left but sul])hurated hydrogen. A few 
minutes afterward I was taken deathly sick at my stomach, 
and sorelv wrenched nivself in a vain effort to relieve this 



OR, THE WORLDS I.ONGKST FAST 65 

nausea, not knowing- wliotlior it was caused l)y the had egg 
or weakness, but hoping it was from the former, not J iking the 
symi)toms if it was the latter. I finally reached tlie bank again, 
and assure you I felt like getting into my blankets, but had 
lost so mucii time lately, and the weather was becoming so 
terribly cold that, weak and chilled as I was, I resolved to 
struggle on. In front of me, when I had climbed the bank, 
was a comparatively level tundra of several hundred acres 
that had been all burned over, probably during the summer 
season. By crossing this 1 w^ould save a lug bend in the river 
and arrive again shortly at the old river bank. By the term 
''old bank" frequently used heretofore, is meant the one next 
to the foothills. The stream, in its endeavor to carry off the 
water, caused by a sudden thaw in the spring, cuts a bed as 
wide as the foothills happen to be apart; during lower water, 
the actual bank of the river at the edge of the stream may be 
a half-mile away from the old bank. 

I headed for liiy objective point. As I moved along through 
the burned ground, 1 picked up dozens of empty snail shells, 
l)ut no live ones. On the way across this burned tundra, 1 
came to a creek running down from the mountains, and empty- 
ing into the main river near by. Here again I saw several 
beautiful salmon trout sporting about in the water. 

This little stream had cut a deep gully, and one of the heavy 
snowstorms being then at its height, I rested here nearly an 
hour, fairly well protected from the driving sleet. Deter- 
mined to go as far as ]^ossible in order to make ui) for the loss 
of the previous day, 1 soon shouldered my blankets and again 
struggled on. Although the burned tundra was comparatively 
easy walking, I could barely drag one foot after the other. 
A number of times, when I had stumbled and fallen, it was 
almost impossible for me to rise again. I was determined, if 
possible, though, to get to the old bank of the river, which I 
now saw before me, feeling sure I would have better protec- 
tion from the storm and wind, as the bluff at this place ran' 
easterly and westerly, and the chilling blasts came from the 
noi-th. Within about a hundred yards of my destination I 
fell, and this time could not rise. I was still on the flat, 
burned tundra, fully ex})osed to the weather. 1 crawled on 
my hands and knees to the edge of the embankment, and must 
have been a horrible sight, struggling over the burned hill- 



66 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

side. My hands, and, I presnme, my face, were as black as a 
negro; 1 was as near a living skeleton as a man ever gets to 
be; tall, gaunt, bony, and black, I surely was a weird looking 
object. A few feet below me on tlie steep slope, grew some 
small willows, almost in a row, and about the length of my 
body. I knew that to lie on the wet ground was to accelerate 
death, so being unable to cut boughs as heretofore, 1 managed 
to crawl down the bank to this brush. Near my feet, a little 
rill of dark germ-infected water trickled down the slope. I 
managed to get my pack unrolled, and tied myself in my 
blankets. Then I rolled over on these bushes, and was 
thus off the wee sod. My head was lower than my feet, 
making a very uncomfortable position, l)ut little did such a 
thing as that bother me now. Pulling my blankets up over 
my head, I lay there panting and i)ondering. I was sure I 
should feel stronger in the morning. Had I not often been 
compelled to stop from weakness, even weeks before? Was 
I not always able to go some distance at least, the next time 
I started? " 

In an hour or so I was again attacked by nausea. There 
being nothing to emit, the wrenching was terrible. Lying on 
my back, my feet 'higher than my head, tied in my blankets, 
and unable to get an easier position, I thought my farewell to 
this world of care and sorrow was at hand. If mortal man 
ever wishes for the ministering hands of loved ones, it is in 
an extremity like this. The sickness at my stomach passed 
away shortly, but recurred a couple of times during the night. 
I dropped off to sleep near morning, and slept until the sun 
was well up; the day was clear and cold, as were, in fact, the 
remaining days until I was found. 

When I awoke, and before I moved at all, I felt I was much 
stronger and was sure I would be able to go quite a little dis- 
tance that day. IV)()r, deluded mortal ! When I endeavored 
to rise I found the end had come at last. Struggle as I would, 
1 could not get to my feet. My last spark of hope was gone. 
I knew that nothing short of a miracle could save me now. It 
was too late in the season to expect ])ros])ectors, and besides 
I was half a mile from the river in llie brush, and if a late 
miner should pass he would go up or down the stream. For 
weeks I had known I had very little chance for life; now I 
was sure of death. Yet, strange to sav, I did not have the 



OR, TUK WORLD'S ].ONGEST FAST ^ 67 

fear of deatli that i luul always tlK)U<^lit 1 would liavo. 1 
bated to be cut off in tbe prime of life, but wliat did worry uie 
iiUH'li more tban tbe dying", was tbe fact that my bones sboubl 
be torn apart by tbe wild animals and Alalamoot dogs, and 
scattered to tbe four winds of tbe eartb — an arm here and a 
tiiigli ])one tbere; tbat my relatives would never know wbere 
1 bad died, nor wbere my remains were. Wbile tbis is mere 
sentiment, and would never be tbougbt of by some people, I 
plead guilty to being brhnful of tbat feeling, and am glad of it. 
I tbougbt over my })ast life, and found tbat my conscience was 
clear — tbat wbile I bad been by no means a saint, my sins were 
largely errors of tbe bead and not of tbe beart. I bave 
always Ijeen a firm believer in a Supi:enie Being and a liere- 
after. 1 bave ever bated bypocrisy, and would never attacb 
myself to any creed unless I tbougbt I could live up to its 
teacbings. I remember well lying tbere, tbinking, "Now 
witbin five days I will know wbat tbe Great Hereafter is." 
1 do not know why I put tbe limit at five days, for, as. a matter 
of fact, I would not have lived half tbat long. 

Sometime during tbe forenoon, on the second day, as I lay 
tbere waiting for death, my head under the blankets, I thought 
I heard a shot. I bad been fooled so often before that I bad 
little faith in tbe correctness of my^ supposition, but pulled the 
cover down and called, "Help! Help!" as loudly as my feeble, 
child-like voice would permit. I received no answer, but after- 
wards learned from tbe boys who found me that they did fire 
at some birds over on tbe river, on their way up the stream. 
During the first day I managed to crawl out on my bands and 
knees, and pluck a handful of grass tbat was growing m a 
protected spot on the bank near me, get a little water from tbe 
rill at my feet, make a small fire and l)oil the grass in the 
water, I drank a portion of this — a teacupful perhaps, but 
bad nothing more until found, nor did I again get out of my 
blankets during the balance of tbe four days [ lay tbere. I 
bad tbe same drowsy feeling I experienced in the swamp. 
Nausea troubled me no more, but late in tbe evening of tbe 
(hiy before I was found I experienced a most peculiar sensa- 
tion, and one, I am told, not a person in thousands ever goes 
through. Beginning at my pelvis 1 could distinctly feel my 
stomach fall against my s])ine, gradually, as though a heavy 
flat iron bad been placed at tbat jwint on my llesli, and run uj) 



68 * STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

V' 

the medial line; when this took place I knew my hours were 
numbered. I had read of the feeling in medical works. Med- 
ical men tell me that one of the most singular facts connected 
with my case is that I retained my mind to the last moment. 
The ])oys who found me say I was perfectly rational, and I, 
myself, know I was. Several cases have happened here in 
Alaska, since I was rescued, in which starving men have lost 
their minds in from three to seven days. If I had not retained 
mine, my life would have gone out like a candle. 

When I crawled back into my blankets on the second day, 
I was unable for lack of strength to make my position any more 
comfortal)le. My head was still lower than my feet. 

Toward noon on September 22nd, as I was lying in my 
blankets with my head covered and a peculiar, drowsy 
feeling on me, I thought I heard voices. I was perfectly con- 
scious, but came very nearly not trying to call because I had 
been so often disappointed before. There is a kind of bird in 
these mountains that, at night, makes a sound very nmch like 
a human being. It had fooled me many times. Still, without 
expecting anv replv, I pulled the blankets off mv head and 
called, ''Hello, Hello! Help! Help!" 

My heart almost stopped beating when in return I heard, 
"Hello there, what do you want!" I answered, "Come here, 
X)lease"; then I could hear one say to the other, "I guess there's 
some fellow in trouble over there. ' ' At this time they could not 
see me on account of the brush, and I could not turn my head, 
much less raise myself up. They were down in the old river 
bed, and I was, as you already know, on the slope of the bank. 
Dear reader, I have told you in the previous chapter that there 
were i)ortions of my ex])erience that words were inadequate to 
describe; this is one of them. I had wandered for sixty-seven 
days over the roughest part of wild Alaska without food, with- 
out hearing a human voice, literally almost without hope. I had 
now resigned myself to death, and, silently, awaited the ap- 
proach of the grim monster; he Avas but a few short hours 
behind his prey; I could feel the chill of his clammy claws; his 
enveloping saliva, such as a snake is said to emit ovei- the 
body of tbe frog l)efore it swallows it, was fast covei-ing'me; I 
could indistinctly hear the mutiHed oars of his boatman, Charon, 
as he made ready to effect a landing and take another solitary 
passenger to the side of the Great Majority. Then to laiow 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 69 

that help was at hand, and Jit'o once more bei'ore me was cer- 
tainly an indescribable feeling. 

I have read, in the old school books, of a man belni>' i)ardoned 
while standing on the trap of the gallows; I could never fully 
appreciate his feelings before. 

As the two young men approached me, leading their ])ack 
horse, one of them called out as soon as he saw me, "What's 
the matter f" In my feeble voice I replied, "1 have had 
nothing to eat for over two months." lie afterward told me 
that he thought, at the time, I was some poor fellow who had 
been without food for four or five days, and was out of my 
mind, but when he got to me, saw the condition of niy body 
and talked with me, he changed his opinion. The two good- 
hearted young miners who found me were John L. O'Brien, 
known among his friends as "Jack" O'Brien, and Frank Hen- 
son, both of Nome. They had been camped for two weeks with 
a couple of companions, William Clinton and Frank Henry, 
seven miles from where they found me. 

After tlie boys talked to me a few moments, Frank grabbed 
his gun and started out to kill a ptarmigan to make me some 
broth. Both being old timers in the country, knew it would 
never do to give me solid food, though I begged for it as only 
a starving man can. Jack, after raising me to a more com- 
fortable position, went to his pack and, cutting a very thin 
piece of bacon, parboiled and fried it, cooked a potato until 
it was mushy and passed them to me together with a small 
pancake, on a tin plate. Here again the vocabulary contains 
no words that will convey to the reader, who has never been 
starved, the gratification of these few mouthfuls. I have 
heard of "nectar for the gods"; this was what the food seemed 
to me. 

I had eaten a few mouthfuls and Jack had turned around 
to the rill to wash his hands, when I was seized with a pain 
that I thought meant my end. He looked around and saw my 
face, and immediately jumped to me and asked what was the 
matter. By this time I began to feel a little better. • I ex- 
plained to him that 1 had had a feeling as though melted lead 
was being poured down my throat. It was no doubt the irri- 
tation caused by food going into a stomach that was "caved 
in". 

I had never shed a tear on the trip, but when I was asked by 



70 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

Jack who I was, and where 1 came from, tears rolled down my 
cheeks as I told of leaving a dear old father of over eighty, and 
relatives and friends in California the April before, and coming 
to Alaska to seek my fortune in the gold mines. 

I begged Jack not to leave me alone, as it really seemed I 
must be in a dream, of which I had had so many. I call the 
boys by their given names, because I have since learned to 
know them well, and love them for their noble, generous treat- 
ment of me. 

And right here I want to say a word of the "sour dough" 
miner of Alaska, and the same holds good of those who have 
followed the business of mining any length of time whereso- 
ever dispersed around the globe ; but I wish it distinctly under- 
stood that, with some exceptions, the rule does not apply to 
the ''cheechako". The former are generally noble, true- 
hearted men, used to the many hardships of such a life, used 
to being poor one year and i)6i'li^ps millionaires the next. 
They are liberal to a fault. They will take the coat off their 
backs to protect from the driving storm a fellow being in dis- 
tress, having themselves often received the same treatment. 
Ready to fight a man who jumps a friend 's claim or otherwise 
abuses him, as quickly as if they were themselves oppressed, 
yet slow to anger and willing to give and take if the right 
spirit is shown by the other. This is the true miner. 

Frank returned, after a couple of hours' hard hunting, with- 
out a bird, but the boys resolved to get up at daj'light and 
kill one at all hazards — and they did. Being determined I 
►should have no more solid food while in their care, they picked 
me up and carried me about a hundred yards to a better camp- 
ing place on the flat, threw a robe over me, depriving them- 
selves of its comfort for the night, made a rousing big brush 
fire and scantily covered, went to bed. It was one of the cold- 
est nights of the season; T did not close my eyes in sleep during 
this or the two following nights, and looking out from under 
my oil coat in the early morning, ] could almost see the dew 
crystallize into frost. During the night, 1 traveled, in my 
mind, over the whole dreadful trip, step by step. 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 71 

OHAPTFJx* V. 

IN THE HANDS OF FRIENDS. 

My kind-liearted rescuers arose at foiii- o'clock, cold as it 
was, and taking tlieir guns, started out after ])tarniigan for 
the purpose of making broth for me. After a cou|)le of hours 
they returned with one; making a huge fire near my feet they 
warmed themselves, and, when it had burned down to coals, 
cooked breakfast. The ])r()th tliey gave me was delicious, 
but I craved something more substantial; of course, I was not 
allowed to have it. 1 begged most piteously, but that did no 
good; the boys did not proi)ose 1 should kill myself after they 
had rescued me. After breakfast, the pack saddle was put 
onto the horse, and I was tied on. The boys had to leave 
their picks, pans, shovels and several other things, as there was 
no room on the poor liorse. We soon started over the rough 
tundra for the tent, seven miles away. Frank led the animal, 
and Jack, with the gun on his shoulder, kept a look-out for 
ptarmigan. The sun came up brightly, and, except for the 
terrible jolting I received as the horse struggled across the 
morass, the ride was not a hard one. When we finally arrived 
at our destination I was gently lowered from my position and 
carried to a bed in the tent. I was more comfortable during 
the two days and three nights I was th^re than I had been in 
nine weeks before, and the many months that have passed from 
that time to the present writing. The only thing that both- 
ered me was my inordinate appetite. The boys killed many 
ptarmigan during these two days, but I only got the broth. 
How I did implore them to let me have some solid food! I 
would have eaten it had I known it would almost kill me. 
Here again, dear reader, words fail to convey the sentiment. 
No person, except one who has been at the verge of death from 
starvation, can realize the almost insane craving for food under 
these circumstances. The desire to eat is as strong as it was 
before you had anything at all, and oh, the taste of what you 
do eat! ! I would forfeit many montlis of my life if I could 
enjoy my food all the balance of my days as I did for the first 
two weeks after I was found. To see the boys eating solid 
.food, and not be able to join them was torture. The meals 
were eaten as the bovs reclined on their blankets, on the floor. 



72 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

Bill Clinton, who, by the way, was a great big good-hearted 
fellow, fair, fat, l)nt not forty, always lay next to me. AVhen 
the other boys were not looking, I would quietly beg Bill to 
give nie a nioutliful of solid food — l)eans, potatoes, ptarmigan 
or bread. He could not resist, and in this way I got many 
a toothsome morsel unknown to the other three. They caught 
him in the act once, and scolded him roundly. If all the boys 
went out they hid everything that was edible. I had a par- 
ticular desire for "bannocks" or ''punk", a kind of bread 
made of flour, l)aking powder and water and used in mining 
camps from pole to pole, and from Portland, Oregon, to Port- 
land, Maine. The boys used to say they could not eat it them- 
selves- without being greatly distressed, and it would be sure 
death to me, but many a little piece found its way to my mouth 
through Bill 's generosity. 

It began sleeting and snowing the day after we got to the 
tent; my rescuers had counted on starting to Teller with me 
at daylight next morning; but, when day dawned, the weather 
was so severe that they concluded to wait twenty-four hours 
longer. Their provisions were getting very low, and they were 
'also very anxious to get me to a physician. I heard one of their 
private conversations when they thought I was asleep, as I was 
lying with my eyes closed. They were very much afraid they 
could not get me to town alive. 

When we awoke on the third morning, the outlook was even 
worse than at any previous time. Things were getting des- 
perate, so the boys decided to start anyway. I had remarked 
to my com})anions on the evening before that I felt very much 
as a man must feel who is to be executed next morning at day- 
light. I knew that even in good weather this thirty-three miles 
trip would l)e a terrilde one for me, and I was satisfied that 
the storm would not abate during tlie night. I lay awake 
listening to the liowling of the w^ind and Bill's snoring until 
nearl}^ daylight, but, not having been able to sleep any since 
Iwas found, finally dropped off ijito a doze. A few minutes 
after dawn. Jack's sonorous voice awakened the camp. Rub- 
bing their eyes, they all arose and Frank Henson cooked a 
hurried breakfast. As soon as this was through, the work of 
breaking camp began in earnest. Each one had his allotted 
work to do, and soon we were ready to start on the terrible 
journey. They had decided to leave the tent, Yukon stove, 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 73 

picks, shovels, gold pans and many other similar objects be- 
cause there was no room for them with me on the pack horse. 
Some poor prospector nndonbtedly made a rich find. When 
all was ready, they carried me forth and tied me to the pack 
saddle. My heavy blanket — the single one had been left 
where I was found — was thrown over my shoulders, and the 
oil coat over that. We started. If T should live to be a hun- 
dred years old, I shall never forget tliis trip. As soon as 
things were packed, two of the boys started ahead. Frank 
Henson led the horse, and the other, (Bill Clinton, I think it 
was) brought up the rear. It was about two miles over the 
worst kind of a morass before we came to the mountains. 
That poor horse would plunge and struggle along until I 
thought I would have to give up, and lose my feeble grip on 
the front cross bars of the pack saddle, in which event I 
would have fallen over the side of the horse. My two days 
of comparative comfort in the tent had made my feelings very 
acute. The sleet was falling so fast we could only see a short 
distance ahead, but the double set of footprints in the snow 
could be easily followed. At last we came to the mountains; 
everything was covered; if the lowland had been bad, this 
was doubly so. At many places we had to ascend and de- 
scend over sheer precipices at an angle of almost forty-five 
degrees. The loose rocks on these places were covered with 
many inches of snow, and how that horse ever kept its feet is 
more than I can tell. I thought every minute I would have a 
broken limb or two to add to my other calamities. Finally, 
after we had traveled many miles over the mountains and 
caught up with the other two boys, we all got lost in a blinding- 
snowstorm. My friends had been heading for a couple of 
peaks that were side by side, and looked exactly alike. When 
they came to the place where they thought they ought to see 
them there were none visible. Here indeed was a fearful 
dilemma. The boys were complaining that they thought 
their feet were frozen. Be it remembered that they^were full 
of health and life; had come out in winter dress and were 
exercising. I was almost a corpse from starvation; was 
dressed in my summer clothes, was not exercising, and liad on 
rubber boots with only one pair of socks. Any ' ' sour dough ' ' 
knows your feet will freeze in vul)l)er quicker than in anything 
else. 



74 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

Frank dropped his leading rope, leaving the horse stand- 
ing, and all four set out in different directions to hunt up 
their landmark — the twin peaks. After an hour or so of 
search up and down the creeks, a glad shout from one of the 
boys announced that we could again get under headway. 

My rescuers afterwards told me they dreaded to return to 
the horse for fear I had already crossed the Higher Divicic 
where no one ever loses his way. At this time it was agreed 
tliat Frank Henson, who had been leading the horse should go 
iihoad to the bay on the opposite side from Teller and see if a 
man, who had been camped there hunting ptarmigan two 
weeks before, was still there with his boat. If so, it would 
save many miles around to the spit where a kind of ferry had 
l)een established. Right here I nnist tell the reader that the 
great mining excitement about the Bluestone, Gold Run and 
Krougarock mining districts had changed the town of Teller, 
which I had left, to another place of the same name seven 
miles away, across the bay. The new camp had many sub- 
stantial two-story buildings, and 1 was told, contained a popu- 
lation at that time of nearl}' one thousand. I could hardly 
believe that the town, of which I was a trustee when I left, had 
l)een wiped off the face of the earth, and this new city had 
sprung up, all while I was without a meal. Even worse than 
that, the new place was not started until a month after I was 
lost. 

Shortly after we passed the ''twins", Grantley Harbor and 
Port Clarence Bay came into view. It was a welcome sight 
to me, I assure you. There, before us, lying at anchor in front 
of Teller, were eight large ships; we had not had two ships a 
month at old Teller. 

A mile or so from the l)ay shore we met Frank coming to 
inform us that the hunter had gone, l)ut there was a man with 
an old boat collecting wood for his camp some distance below. 
He called our attention to the fact that our dog had lost its 
pack; all the cooking utensils had been strapped on the little 
beast, and he had trotted contentedly along behind the horse 
most of the way. 

Finally we arrived at the coast line. The hoys hui-riedly lifted 
me from the horse to a blanket s])read on the ground; they liad 
not realized before how nearly gone I was; in fact, I myself 
did not. For some time it was a struggle Ix^tweeu life and 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 75 

(loatli. The owner oi" tlie old l)()at was tliere, .nil when asked 
for its loan to cany a sick man aeross, he liesitated and said 
he would have to see his partner who was luuitin«»' nearl)y, 
first. The man had good seeurit\ ; the hoat was not wortli ten 
dollars, and the liorse, which could not be taken over at that 
point, was worth many times that amount. As the fellow 
walked back to see his partner, my companions agreed among 
themselves to take the boat by force if he showed the least hesi- 
tancy when he returned. lAickil}'^, he came back and reported 
that he could not find his partner, but that we could take the 
boat. The boys carried me to it, and laid me in the bottom 
on some bhmkets. They then began the pull for Teller. 

Nothing eventful happened on the way over. In about an 
hour we reached our landing place. I was hurriedly taken 
from the boat to Wilson Brothers' store, and deposited in a 
chair until a place could be prepared for me. There was not 
a vacant room that could be heated in the town, so through 
the kindness of Mr. A. McLean and Mr. W. J. Morse, I was 
taken to a cot in the rear of their saloon; within a few feet of 
me was a large stove, and although the weather was cold, I 
felt comfortable. 

I was allowed no solid food for several days; as soon as I 
was given some my stomach began to misbehave ; for over two 
months I never ate a meal but what 1 paid the penalty. My 
feet began to swell the next day after my arrival and con- 
tinued in this condition all the long, dark, dreary winter. 

I had visitors l)y the score; it seems to me that almost 
every soul of the several hundred people in town at that time 
came to see me. Some out of sympathy, and some out of 
curiosity; a number of newspaper reporters called. A special 
representative of the San Francisco Examiner had photo- 
graphs taken of myself, my rescuers, and the horse that so 
safely brought me in; even the dog had his place in one of the 
pictures. Speaking of this horse, I must say my heart was 
full of gratitude to the poor animal. The boys had no hay or 
grain left for him while we were in camp, so they fed him 
bread and beans. If I had had the power I would have made 
as much of him as Caligula, Nero, and others did of their fa- 
vorite horses. 

We arrived at Teller a few days before the last boat w^ent 
out, but my physical condition was such tliat my friends 



76 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

tliouglit I would 1)6 ver}^ foolish to attempt sucli a long trip 
when storms were so frequent. Besides, I had seen but little 
of mining life in Alaska, and hated to go hack without this 
experience; I did not then know that I was about to face the 
worst winter that this country had witnessed in over a decade. 
• Dozens upon dozens were frozen to death in the vicinity of 
Nome and Teller. Many a man had his face, fingers, or toes 
frozen within five minutes after he stepped outside his door, 
even though warmly dressed for winter. If possible, I suffered 
more during this dreadful winter than I did while lost. 

I will conclude this chapter by quoting from one local paper 
and one outside paper in regard to my trip and rescue. The 
papers of Alaska and of every State in the Union had quite 
long accounts at the time. 

The Nome Weekly News, a leading paper of Alaska, con- 
tained the following in its issue of October 6th, 1900 : 

SAVED FROM STARVATION— ATTORNEY HALL'S 
AWFUL EXPERIENCE— LOST IN MOUNTAINS. 



His Only Food for Sixty-Seven Days Was a Pound of Bacon, 
a Few Crackers, and What Berries and Roots He 
Could Gather. 



(From a Staff Correspondent.) 

TELLER, Oct. 2. — An event in the life of an argonaut in 
search of the elusive gold has happened in this vicinity, which 
seems as strange and unusual as the tales of the Arabian 
Nights. It is the experience of a lost man who has almost 
crossed the portals of death and has returned to life after the 
pangs of starvation and hardship have turned his robust frame 
into an emaciated skeleton. It is the story of man's inhu- 
manity to man, of base ingratitude, for the love of gold which 
resulted in an attorney's battle for life on the verge of star- 
vation for the long period of sixty-seven days. 

Attorney James A. Hall is lying on a cot in the Teller Saloon 
building, slowly recovering from the effects of living on 
berries and roots while lost in the mountains and on the low- 
lands to the north and west of Teller city. 



OR. THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 77 

On Sept. 22nd, upon the banks of American Kiver, about oU 
miles from here, Jack O'Brien and Frank Hensen found Hall 
lying on a bunch of willows, wrapped in his blankets, weak 
and exhausted in the last throes of starvation. He had sub- 
sisted on a pound of bacon, and a few crackers, and what berries 
and roots he could find for sixty-seven days. Nothing like 
such vitality and dogged perseverance in a fight for life has 
been chronicled in the historj^ of this country's privations. 

Hall told your correspondent the story of his pilgrimage in 
the shadow of death in such a simple and straightforward 
manner that one could hardly believe he could have passed 
through so great a struggle and still retain so gentle a disposi- 
tion and kindly address. He was not embittered with life. 

On July 17th, Attorney Hall, in company with Dr. Vincent 
and G. P. Hall, formerly of the A. C. Company, was sent out by 
Tom and AVill Wilson from old Teller to locate a quartz ledge 
known to Dr. Vincent to be situated about fifty miles l)ack of 
old Teller. Dr. Vincent had the dying statement of a prospector 
who claimed he had found all kinds of gold some years ago. 
On the second day out. Hall and Vincent left Attorney Hall 
on the top of a mountain, not waiting for him to catch up, and 
descended to a stream to the north. Attorney Hall reached 
the top about fifteen minutes later, and, not finding his com- 
panions, spread out his blankets and passed the night on the 
peak. He never saw his companions again. 

Hall and Vincent returned to old Teller two days later and 
told how they had lost Attorney Hall in the mountains. Tom 
and Will Wilson formed two rescuing parties and searched all 
over the country in vain for Attorney Hall, and finally gave 
him up as lost. Hall and Dr. Vincent did not join the rescuing 
party, saying they were too tired to go. 

Attorney Hall, with about a pound of bacon and five crack- 
ers, traveled for one week, a lost man wandering among the 
mountains and in the soft and swampy tundra off Kotzebue 
Sound. He tried to retrace his steps, and struggled along sub- 
sisting on berries, roots and grasses until he reached a branch 
of the American Eiver. At last he became exhausted and lay 
down to die on Sept. 18th. He could no longer drag or crawl 
along in search of help. On the night of Sept. 21st he felt his 
stomach collapse and sink back against his spine. His suffer- 
ings were excruciating. Dazed, and ready to die, he heard a 



78 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

shot and made one more effort for sweet life. Henson was fol- 
lowing a flock of ptarmigans, and had missed a bird. He heard 
the call for help and approached. Hall raised his head feebly 
and begged for something to eat. He said he was starving. 
For the first time he wept at the joy of his delivery. 'Brien 
gave him a small piece of bacon and some potatoes warmed by 
a fire. Henson rushed out on the hills in search of a bird to 
make broth, but was unsuccessful. O'Brien and Henson then 
strapped Hall to their horse and took him to their camp and 
tent seven miles away where Frank Henry and William 
Clinton, partners of O'Brien and Henson, were located. They 
left their camp, the second day, after Hall had gained more 
strength. He begged piteously for solid food, but his new 
companions only fed him broth and liquids in order to save 
his life. He was taken to the coast on the horse, and brought 
here by boat. The Wilson Brothers have done all they can for 
his welfare and care, and he is now rapidly recovering his 
health and strength. 

Attorney Hall came to Nome on the Thrasher, and two weeks 
later went to Port Clarence, being one of the first residents of 
old Teller. He practiced law in San Francisco and was for- 
merly associated with Attorneys C. W. Cross, Tirey L. Ford 
and Frank P. Kelly. He was born in Monterey County, CaT- 
ifornia, November 9, 1857, served in the California Legislature 
of 1889-90, and was District Attorney for Santa Cruz County 
in 1883-4. The people of Teller will see that he is looked 
after and when he opens a law office he will be engaged by 
many clients who wish to show their interest in his prosperity. 
The most pathetic part of his story was that pertaining to his 
matches, which he carefully counted each day, hoping that 
they would last to build fires as long as the spark of life could 
be maintained in his emaciated body. Attorney Hall is 6 feet 
11/2 inches in height, and weighed 225 ])ounds l)efore his ex- 
perience, losing fully 100 pounds in his sixty-seven days' fast. 
The only implement he had was a surgeon's knife, and with a 
safety pin he made a hook and ti-ied to catcli fish, but with- 
out success." 

The reader will notice that tliis .paper uses the name 
American River, while I call it the Agiapuk. Since 1 was 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGlilST FAST 79 

found t]ie name lias l)e('ii ('lian«^iMl IVoiii the loi-mci- lo tlio 
latter, l)y order of the U. S. District Coiii-t. 

The San Francisco Examiner, the larg-est dail\' on tiie Pa- 
cific Coast, contained the following in its issne of Oct. 2r)th, 
1900: 

"SAVED FROM DEATH ON AN ARCTIC TRAIL- 
ATTORNEY JAMES A. HALL OF THIS CITY RES- 
CUED WHEN HIS LIFE WAS PASSING IN A 
STORM SWEEPING NOME. 



For Over Two Months He Wandered Through the Snow and 

Subsisted on Bacon, Crackers and Roots — Rescuers 

Find Him After He Had Given Up Hope of Escaping 

From the Perils of the Snow-bound Country. 



(Special Dispatch to the "Examiner.") 

SEATTLE, Wash., Oct. 25.— James A. Hall, an attorney who 
lived at San Francisco, was rescued from death by Frank 
Henson and "Jack" O'Brien, two big-hearted Nome miners. 

These men found Hall wrapped in his blankets and lying in 
a bunch of willows on the banks of the American River, in the 
Teller City district. For sixty-seven days he had wandered 
in the mountains back of Nome, lost and bewildered. His 
grub stake consisted of a pound of bacon and a few dozen 
crackers. With these articles of food, and such berries and 
roots as he could find, he subsisted for over two months. 

The rescuers found him Sept. 22nd, and they assert that such 
dogged perseverance and vitality in a fight for life have never 
been equalled in the history of the thousands who have 
searched for fortune in the northland. 

Hall's pilgrimage in the shadow of death commenced July 
17th. He was out with Dr. Vincent and G. P. Hall (not a re- 
lation), in an endeavor to locate a quartz ledge fifty miles back 
of Teller. On the second day out, Vincent and G. l\ Hall loft 
the attorney on top of a mountain, not waiting for liim to 
catch up, and descended in a northerly direction. G. P. Hall 
returned to Teller two days later and told how they had lost 
Attorney Hall in the mountains. Tom and Will Wilson organ- 



80 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

ized two rescuing parties and searched all over the country in 
vain for the lost man. 

For weeks the lost man traveled about the mountains and in 
the soft and swampy tundra of Kotzebue sound on the Arctic. 
He tried to retrace his steps and finally reached a branch of 
the American Eiver where on September 18th he threw him- 
self on the ground to die. 

The men who found him took him to Teller, where he was 
being cared for with chances of recovery, when the San Pedro 
sailed. Hall had been professionally associated with Senator 
C. W. Cross, Tirey L. Ford, the present Attorney General, and 
Frank P. Kellj:^ 

CHAPTER VI. 
A TERRIBLE WINTER. 

For one month I lay on my back in my bunk, near a hot stove. 
At the end of that time I was able to walk across the floor by 
holding on to the wall. 

I will never forget the first solid meal I was allowed to eat. 
It consisted of reindeer steak and potatoes. To describe the 
enjoyment of that meal is beyond my power. It was ''as 
nectar fit for the gods ' '. I could not eat often enough. Meals 
were one dollar each and my appetite soon knocked a big hole 
in what little money I had left. A few days after I had been 
brought in, I noticed that my feet were badly swollen. They 
had been frozen on that terrible trip through the snow, over 
the mountains, tied to a pack horse. The swelling did not 
abate during the long, long winter. In about a month, large 
sores began to break out all over the frozen portion of my 
lower extremities, from the knees down. I frequently had as 
jnany as twenty-five large running ulcers on my legs at one 
time. Dr. Bates, my physician, kept burning them out with 
nitrate of silver pencils to heal them. The pain of this was 
excruciating, in my feeble condition, and often I would 
send a friend to get morphine tricherates for me when I ex- 
pected the doctor. Luckily, I did not contract the "habit". 
The cause of these sores was explained by my medical attend- 




James A. Hall, on Oct. 1st, 1900, After the Longest Fast on Record 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 83 

ant. Ho said tliat the freezing destroyed all tlie Tittle blood 
vessels that carried the blood to the snrfaee of the skin. This 
lack of nourishment caused the skin to rot. There was very 
little nutriment in the frozen, canned goods, which was about 
the only food we could get in this rough mining camp. Con- 
sequently I had no chance to build up my system, so was not 
relieved from these sores until I reached the "States," about 
a year after 1 was found dying. The scars left by this experi- 
ence will probably go with me to the grave. 

The first legal case I had after I was able to hobble around 
was one in which a man was arrested for locating a lot in the 
middle of a street and moving a house on it. It was disputed 
that the street had been regularly laid out, but the resident 
Deputy United States Marshal swore to a complaint against 
him. He was arrested and placed in the U. S. jail, which, by 
the way, did service also as a morgue and hospital. The camp 
was equally divided on the question. Finally we secured a 
jury, and after considerable conflicting evidence, the case was 
ready for argument. It was the first and only time in my 
twenty years of law practice that I ever addressed the jury, 
sitting. We got a verdict of ''not guilty" and the partisans 
of the defendant picked up the chair on which I was seated 
and carried me downstairs and up the street. 

About this time the largest building in the town was finished. 
I moved into one of the rooms and thereafter occupied it as 
law office and bed room. I was still so weak I could only 
hobble along with the assistance of a cane. 

The snow was from ten to twenty feet deep around us and 
for months it was dark most of the twenty-four hours. I 
never dreamed that it was possible for time to pass so slowly. 
The building was a two-story one and contained a large saloon 
and gambling house. These saloons were headquarters for all 
the miners, as there was always a large fire in them, although 
coal was a hundred dollars a ton that winter. Those that were 
not playing at some of the numerous gambling games, sat 
around the fire and discussed the various mining prospects of 
the country and other matters of interest. 

These persons that habitually sat around the fire were known 
as "chair- warmers". Through the floor I could hear their 
various discussions all day long. 

I will never forget one old gentleman T met that lonelv 



84 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

winter. He was known as ' ' Captain. ' ' Nearly all the men in 
this countr}^ were nnder fiftj^ years of age, but the Captain was 
oyer three score. He was a walking encyclopedia and could 
give you accurate information on almost any subject. I 
noticed that the old Captain had the asthma very badly and as 
the dreary winter wore along he grew worse and worse. 
Finally, as some signs of spring began to approach, we missed 
the grizzled face from his accustomed chair around the stove 
for several days at a time. Upon his return he would tell us 
how near to death's door he had been. One day along about 
the last of May, 1901, a friend of the Captain's fell danger- 
ously sick and he volunteered to sit up with him. The patient 
was almost unconscious and unable to move and it was neces- 
sary to give him his medicine at stated intervals. Those that 
called at the shack the next morning found the Captain stiff 
in death on the floor and the patient about to breathe his last. 

We had all become very much attached to the old man 
and his funeral was indeed a sad one. The ceremonies were 
held in a room adjoining a saloon, but as a matter of respect 
the door between the two was securely locked. 

A carpenter had made a coffin from some pine boards and 
it was covered with the most suitable cloth that could be found 
in the camp — a kind of polka dot, if I remember correctly. 

Around that bier stood the little crowd of us that had passed 
the long, long winter together. It must be remembered that 
from the time the last boat left, early in November, we had 
been in prison, as it were. Nobody could get out of Alaska 
and nobody could get in. There we stood, the coffin in the 
center of the room, and the motley throng of mourners press- 
ing close upon it. At the head of the coffin a miner-preacher 
gave us a short sermon. His audience was certainly a cos- 
mopolitan one — merchants, miners, gamblers, two or three 
respectable wives and two or three wives that were not respect- 
able, saloonkeepers. Government officials and a half dozen 
curious Eskimos. 

AVhen the services were finished, willing hands lifted the 
coffin to a sled just outside the door, on the snow, and eight 
dogs slid the poor old Captain into his frozen grave, far from 
the home of his younger manhood and thousands of miles from 
a loving wife and family. 

Such scenes as this were particularly sad for me because 




Dr. U. C. Bates and Charles Wilson 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 87 

on a number of occasions I had overheard remarks made l)y 
one miner to another, as T li()l)bled by, that *'tliat man can not 
possibly live the winter throngli." 

As feeble as I was, I managed to assist my physician in two 
capital and many minor surgical operations. The first of these 
was on a yonng man named Charlie Wilson. He had 1)een out 
prospecting and when he returned to within a mile of his 
shack felt himself freezing. It was snowing heavily, but he 
could see the smoke curling up from his stove pipe and tried 
his best to get home. He became so weak and dazed that he 
fell down on his knees and crawled to within a numl)er of yards 
of his abode. Here he was found by friends, who took him 
at once to Dr. Bates, the physician wdio was attending me. 
It chanced that he was placed in a room next to mine. The 
doctor discovered that all of his extremities were frozen, his 
feet were in such a bad condition that it was found necessary 
to amputate both of them immediately. I had had consider- 
able experience in hospital work and was requested to assist 
in the operation; a capital amputation, even of a single limb, 
is very dangerous at any time and particularly so in a rough 
mining camp, where nothing is aceptic and the apparatus very 
crude. 

There was no fire or place for a fire in this rough room and 
the thermometer was toying with the zero mark. 

The operating table consisted of some old boards, fastened 
together. In fact, the surgeon was handicapped in every way. 
Charlie was game, though, and ten minutes before he began 
to take the chloroform, was chatting pleasantly with us. As 
soon as he was sufficiently under, the first cut w^as made. 1 
had seen hundreds of operations, but never one in which I 
hated to see the first incision as much as I did here. The sur- 
rounding circumstances, the affable nature of the young man, 
the distance from relatives and old friends, all made it a pit- 
eous sight. It took nearly three hours to take off both legs, 
just below the knees. He rallied from the shock and in about 
two months was lifting himself along with his arms and stubs. 

A few weeks afterward we cut off both hands of another 
man. He had been out with his dog team, twenty miles, to 
what was called the ''Spit" (the place where T landed off the 
Thrasher), after drift wood. The mercury showed twenty-five 



88 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

below, but lie was well prepared and liad returned safely back 
to within a couple of miles of Teller. 

His bands becoming a little numb, lie took off his ''mits" 
to rub them together. The very moment he took off the gloves, 
his fists clenched, automatically, and he could not open them 
again. 

He managed to kick the dogs loose and their wonderful 
sagacity is told of in another part of this book. 

Though a large, strong man, this fellow soon began to stagger 
like a drunkard as he struggled homeward. At the edge of the 
camp several persons saw him, but thought he was under the 
influence of liquor. His mind seemed to wander and he was 
not able to tell them his troubles. 

A few days afterwards we took off both hands, near the 
wrists. This man did not have the genial, affable temper that 
Charlie Wilson had. 

As sick as I was, myself, I sat up with him, in his cold shack, 
through three long winter nights. The snow was deep, the 
thermometer low and the patient "cranky". Nobody could 
please him, although our services were gratis. I never saw 
men so different in dispositions as were these two patients. 

Slowly, oh so slowly, signs of spring began to appear! We 
were waiting for the ice to go out in order that communication 
might be again opened up with the outside world. The long 
looked for event happened on July 2d. For weeks the ice 
had been rotting, which caused many unfortunate accidents. 

One man was driving a fine large team of horses, attached 
to a sled, over the ice, a few days before the grand breakup. 
He struck a particularly rotten place and down went team and 
sled, the owner barely escaping, by falling backward out of 
the sled. As these animals were the only ones in that part of 
Alaska, and had been brought in at great expense, his loss was 
very heavy. 

When at last the ice had gone out and the ''cheechako" 
(new arrival) had come in, 'Hhere was something doing every 
minute", as the slang has it. 

The visitor was after gold dust, and so was the ' ' sour dough ' ' 

("a man who has seen the ice go out of the Bering Sea for two 

successive seasons). The sour dough liad '^staked" almost 

every square foot of ground in that part of the country. The 

cheechako, whenever he saw a good looking piece of mineral 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 89 

land, would jump it. Only al)ont one-lialf of those disputes 
were ever carried as far as tlie eonrts. I'lie sliot^un or Win- 
chester generally settled the trouble. Tlie same rule held good 
on town lots. 

Teller, as 1 have sai<l before, was located or rather moved to 
its present site, about a mouth after I started on my fearful 
trip from old Teller. 

Tlie place was laid out on a gravelly beach and the scramble 
for lots began. Some secured a half dozen and some were un- 
al)le to get any. The fellow that had several lots had to get 
a tenant for each lot, because possession was not only "nine 
])oints of the law" — but ten. 

This state of affairs existed during the whole nine months 
of winter. There were many fights, legal and fistic, over lots. 
My partner had been one of the original locators of the town, 
having moved over from old Teller with the rush. 

He had located a lot the value of which, in the open market, 
was several hundred dollars. One-half of this was, of course, 
mine. He went out on the last boat, leaving the lot with me 
and expecting to return in the spring. I was too feeble to 
erect a shack on it, consequently it was not held possessio 
pedis. 

Everybody in the cam}) knew the terrible experience I had 
had, so through sympathy my lot was left unmolested for 
many months. 

Finally, one fellow, a man who had a lot adjoining mine, 
allowed his greed to get the better of his sympathy and my lot 
was jumped. Many of my friends tried to shame him out of 
it, but, although I think he was really ashamed of himself, he 
still kept it. 

I had one satisfaction, however, for when s})ring opened 
and the mines did not turn out as well as expected, the bottom 
dropped out of the market and lots that had been held at many 
hundreds of dollars, sold for twenty-five or thirty. He had 
kept this, expecting a l)ig price, but received nothing. 

When the spring sun began to melt the snow, many bodies 
of people who had been lost, were found. In this country 
everybody is a stranger to everybody else. If a man starts out 
to go from Teller to Nome, "over the trail", and is lost in the 
snow, there is nobody to inquire whether he arrives safely 
at his destination or not. 



90 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

During the winter, tlie wliole country, as said heretofore, 
was staked. Tliey drove the stakes down into the snow, 
regardless of the hiw that a discovery of gokl must be made on 
a chiim before it can be legally located. Several of these pros- 
l)ectors were kind enough to stake claims for me, some in very 
promising localities. Although I had been in bed a good 
portion of the winter, I had about fourteen claims when spring 
came. 

After the first boats arrived there was considerable activity 
and I had hopes of selling my mining interests, but like the 
ignus fatuus, tlie sale was always just ahead of me. Finally, as 
the summer i)assed along, I determined to leave everything and 
get back to the "States". I sailed from Teller on the good 
ship Centennial, August 26th, 1901, for Seattle, arriving there 
safely after a stormy trip of nine days. 

At last I was able to get fresh meats and vegetables and in 
the week spent there, before sailing for my old home in Cali- 
fornia, 1 gained many pounds. The terrible sores that had 
covered my frozen legs and feet began to disappear and I 
commenced to feel like my old self again. 

After I had been home a few months J learned that one of 
the mines that had been staked for me during the winter and 
which I had abandoned when I left there, was afterward sold 
for several thousand dollars. 

One of my greatest regrets is that my dear old father died 
at the age of eighty-two years, while I was gone and I would 
have given much to have seen him and let him see me after he 
had mourned me for dead many^ months. 

One day I had been sitting, for several hours, hearing the 
trial of a lot case in which I had been chosen arbitrator, when 
the news came that the mail had arrived. As we only got mail 
about once a month. Court was immediately adjourned and we 
all proceeded to the Postoffice. Here I found the letter that 
told me the sad news, and, strangest of all, it gave me the sec- 
ond verification of mental telepathy I had receivecl while in 
Alaska. The letter informed me that my father had died on 
Feln-uary 4th, 1901, about six o 'clock in the morning. On that 
very date, as I lay in my bunk, T was awakened at three in the 
morning, by what seemed to be the voice of my younger sister 
saying to me, "Father is dying, father is dying." It made a 
very dec]) im]iression and T could not get over the feeling for 



OR, THE WOllLDS LONGEST FAST 91 

soveral days. The diPfeiviico in tiino hetween tlie t\YO places 
is three hours. My sister afterwards told iiie that when she 
saw father was dying she thought of me, in that distant land. 

J now feel no evil effects from my strenuous ordeal, except 
that my feet sometimes get very feverish aftei- a long walk. My 
doctor wai'ucd me that this would last for years. 

Ui)on my return to San Francisco the Examiner ]mblished a 
full page Sunda}' storj" of my experience. 

In that article there was an interview with Dr. Edwin Bun- 
nell, who was then the Chief Surgeon of the City Receiving 
Hospital of that place. Dr. Bunnell stands at the head of his 
profession. In closing this chapter J will quote his language: 

"MOST EXTRAORDINARY CASE I EVER HEARD OF." 

By Edwin Bunnell, M. D., Chief Surgeon of the Beceiving 

Hospital. 

The survival of Mr. Hall is not only the most extraordinary 
case that has come under my observation— it is the most extra- 
ordinary I ever heard of. Undoubtedly the secret of his com- 
ing through such an experience alive is the strength of his 
nervous system. He possessed will power to an extraordinary 
degree and used rare judgment in conserving his physical 
force, but then, Hall is an educated man, and brought his in- 
tellect to bear ux^on the situation. I should say that two things 
saved him — will power and water. Ph3^sicians recognize the 
aid to them that mental force and a firm will can give. Place 
two patients side by side, suffering with the same disease, their 
chances for recovery equal, and the patient possessing the will 
to live recovers, while the other dies. 

There have been numerous instances of remar!;able fasting, 
but none like this. The case of Tanner and other so-called 
starvers are not a parallel at all. Hall was exposed to the 
elements in their worst form and he was in a perilous predica- 
ment at all times while they had every comfort they wanted 
but solid food. To me the physical aspect of Hall's case is not 
so amazing as his mental soundness after what he had gone 
through. Most men go crazy after a few days of hunger and 
exposure. Hall retained his mental poise perfectly after 
sixty-seven days of wandering in an icy desert." 



92 



STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 



(Dedicated to my friend, James' A. Hall, who made the 
longest fast ever recorded.) 

"TOMBSTONE BILL" PASSES THE BUCK." 



I'm an Arizona bad man, 

My name is Tombstone Bill, 

I'm right there in a show-clown 
And I alwuz shoot to kill. 

Go ask Long Pete of Bisbee 
Who filled him full of lead. 

And why Pichaco Charley 
Is numbered with the dead. 

In Pinal and Maricopa, 

Quite broadcast is my fame. 

And many a heap that's cross-crowned 
Commemorates my name. 

Once in the Harqua Halla, 
Close by the Granite Hill, 

Eight Apaches 'round me gathered, 
Fur to scalp your Uncle Bill. 

With a quick manipulation. 

My guns I did unstrap — 
Not one of them wuz missin' 

At the finish of the scrap. 

In many a noted instance 
I've been up against it hard, 

But a feller down from Teller 
Holds a somewhat stiffer card. 

And though I've tagged a burro 

From Yuma to the rim, 
I pass the buck with plezhur 

To my friend, Alaska Jim. 

I claim him as no fighter, 

Nor that he got his man; 
He wuz only a prospector. 

With his horn-spoon and his pan. 

He blind-trailed in the ice-fields. 
Where the sky-fires flash and glow 

And -great white b'ars in hunger 
Prowled hunting thro' the snow. 



Nigh three straight months he fasted 
With no liquor in his hide, 

Had it a'been your uncle, 
I shorely would a'died. 

I've eaten- chip-broiled mule meat 
And partook of jerked coyot', 

Chawed the pulp of borel-cactus 
That would kill a Pima goat. 

I have chased the Chuckawalla 
When my grub was gettin' slim. 

But I pass the buck for trouble 
To my friend, Alaska Jim. 

Oh, I've hit the silent desert. 
Where the Colorado flows, 

Where the Needles raise their turrets 
And the thorny Yucca grows. 

Where the burning Chimehuevis 

Hide their stores of wealth untold. 

Full patiently I've wandered 
In lone pursuit of gold. 

Through rock-strewn Coconino 
My weary feet have strayed. 

And with the grim side-winder 
I oft in sleep have laid. 

I sartin am a tough one. 

Where such like plenty grow. 

And a noted individual 
Wherever I may go. 

But 'till Satan forks your Uncle, 

Across the fiery brim, 
I'll pass the buck, by thunder, 

To my friend, Alaska Jim. 

— Frank V. Gaffey, in Overland 
Monthly. 



OR, THE^ WORLDS LONGEST FAST 93 

CHAPTER VII. 

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF THREE PROSPECTORS. 

Ou ur about Jiuie 15tli, 11)01, a year after my awi'iil experi- 
ence, three men, Georg Dean, Jack Huston and Joseph C 
Tliierry, started from tlieir mining camp on Clara (^reek, a 
tributary of tlie celebrated (Quartz Rock in the Good Hope min- 
ing district, near the Arctic coast, to return to Nome via the 
way of Teller. It will be remembered that this is the same 
section of country' in which I had* come so near dying as de- 
tailed in former chapters though then there were few 
prospectors in that section and the district had not l^een organ- 
ized. The higli waters of tlie various streams necessary to be 
crossed on their way to Teller delayed the party until the 
small supply of food on hand finally gave out. They were then 
compelled to eke out an existence on grass, roots, snails and 
wild goose eggs containing half formed birds, and finally the 
survivors were brought face to face with cannibalism. Joseph 
C. Thierry, who seems to have been the strongest of the three, 
made the folio-wing statement a few hours after they were 
found : 

"AYe would travel for twenty hours at a stretch, and 
after a few hours' rest, get up and go at it again. When we 
saw Salt Lake, we headed for that, Init when we thought we 
were nearly there, we came to deep marshes or sloughs, ten to 
three hundred feet wide and from ten to twenty miles long. 
Being unable to cross these, we started back for the Agiapuk 
River, expecting to strike it farther up and continue down the 
river to the lake. In our trij) back to the river we came to 
a slough that extended back from the lake, bench upon bench, 
for at least twenty miles to the mountains.. 

"Huston, who up to this time had held on bravely, gave out 
and asked Dean and I to leave him to either get assistance or 
save ourselves. I left Dean there and walked to the top of 
the divide about five miles distant from which I could see the 
Agiapuk. I then returned and heli)ing up Huston, whose legs 
had become partially paralyzed, continued our tramp. Dean, 
by this time, had become so weak that he could not carry the 
gun, and every time that we stopped he would pitch forward 
upon his face, or whiU' walking would fall asleep and drop 



94 STARVING ON A BED OF, GOLD 

''In my condition it would take a mighty effort to get liim to 
walking. Then the hallucination seemed to take possession of 
him that he was a drag upon the party, and he repeatedly 
asked to be left behind. 

"We came to another slough about fifteen* feet wide. The 
boys had not strength enough left to attempt to go around it, 
so I built a bridge of willows and our six pack straps, and 
one at a time I got them over. 

"After following down the Agiapuk for thirty or forty mileo, 
we arrived opposite the lower village. I left the boys here 
and went down the river two miles where I came to a slough 
that I knew could not be crossed, but I found a little igloo 
about six feet in diameter, where T brought the boys and made 
camp. 

"While at this igloo we could hear shots every night, but 
could not locate the direction from which the sounds came. 
I found a roi)e of three strands ten feet long, and with this and 
several logs made a raft with which I intended to cross the 
river and procure help from the village. After building my 
raft I found that it would not sustain my weight, so I had ro 
give up the idea of crossing. Later I found an Indian corpse 
rolled in a light canvas about fifteen by twenty feet in size 
from which I made a boat eight feet in length by four in 
width. It was too rotten to hold me up, and I was nearly 
drowned trying to row it. But the boat subsequently saved 
our lives as it was that which attracted the attention of our 
rescuers. 

"About five days before we were found, Dean asked me to 
write a statement which he wished to dictate and which I did. 
Dean had seemed to be reviving physically, with rest, but he 
was still laboring under the delusion that he was in the way, 
and begged me to shoot him and put him out of his misery. 
He said tliat every bone in his body ached and he was suffer- 
ing untold agony. He suggested to us that with his flesh we 
might sustain life until some one found us. 

"The following day I found a partly decomi)osed ])taniiigaii, 
of which I made soup and a stew, dividing it equally amoiig 
us. This was the last we had to eat until we were found, and 
llie following day I almost broke down myself. 

"The night of the IDtli Huston and I talked the matlcr over, 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 95 

and (lec'idod that iinles.s we wcic rescued the next <hiy we woidd 
act iipou Dean's suggestion. 

''He died at three o'cloek the next nioining and, (liere 
Thierry's voiee broke down and he wept) at eight 1 cut a 
pieee from ins tliigh about tliree inches long and to tlie l)one, 
and after removing the skin and outer flesh 1 placed it in the 
])()t to hoik We decided to Jet it cook at least two hours, and 
while we were waiting we heard a voice. 1 innnediately said 
to Huston that Dean was not dead and was talking to us. He 
said that it could not be, and I looked out and saw two men 
with a canoe, whom I called and we were saved. I then threw 
the pot and its contents into the river and I thank God that I 
was saved from this last extreme." 

Thierry, so his living companion claims, displayed very 
heroic qualities in the treatment of his weaker conipanions. 
They both begged him to go on and leave them and try to save 
himself. This he refused to do, saying that he would stay with 
them till death, if necessary. 

They, dying and dead, were found on the morning of July 
20tli, 1901, on the Agiapuk River, a1)0ut ten miles up from 
where it empties into Great Salt Lake, by two miners, Louis 
Reich and George Woods. Strange to say, it was on this 
river, and near this very spot, where I was found dying nearly 
a year before, by Jack O'Brien and Frank Henson, two young 
prospectors. 

Reich and Wood were rowing up the Agiapuk River and on 
a sand bar at one side saw a peculiar looking boat. They 
stopped to examine it and heard a faint cry of "For God's sake 
don't leave us, we are starving!" 

Upon investigation they found the two living skeletons and 
the corpse. 

On the fire near at hand was a stew of human flesh, the 
pieces being about the size of those in ordinary beef stew. 
Thie^rry at once emptied the can when he saw help at hand, 
and asked the rescuers if they had .any food. They were given 
something light to eat, and then conveyed by boat to Teller. 
Dr. LT. C. Bates was summoned by the United States Com- 
missioner, who is ex-officio coroner, to accompany him to the 
scene of death. The doctor says that though the men of the 
coroner's party were used to rough scenes, tliere were few dry 
eyes when the corpse was inspected. There lay an emaciated 



96 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

Imman body, i^artly denuded of flesli to save the lives of other 
hnmaus. 

The body, hair, beard and sunken eyes were covered with 
vermin. On the body of the deceased was found the following 
documents. As appears from the statement of Thierry, these 
documents were written by him at the dictation of the de- 
ceased. It also appears that the date should have been July 
loth, instead of Julv 20th, 1901. 

"July 20th, 1901. 

"Finder will recognize by this paper the body of Greorg 
Dean of Canton, Ohio, U. S. A., who with his two companions, 
Jack Huston of Nome and Jos. C. Thierry of Davenport, Iowa, 
left their camp on Clara Creek, a tributary to Quartz Creek, in 
the Good Hope District, with the intention of returning to 
Nome for new supplies. Being without sufficient food and 
unable to find anybody, nor could we cross the river, we were 
comj)elled to starve. We are at present twenty-two days 
away from camp. 

"Georg Dean is a Free Mason and his sincere wish is to have 
his death reported to the lodge at Nome. Proof of his being a 
member can be found at the Hiram Lodge, No. 26, Canton, Ohio. 
Also like to have my family notified of my death and proof sent 
home of my being deceased. 

"Address of my wife, Anna Louise Dean, 1000 Lafayette 
Street, Canton, Ohio. 

"I also wish the Masons to take charge of my body and act 
as they think best with it to dispose of. 

Fraternally, 

GEORG DEAN, 
Canton, Ohio." 

This was found in his pocket, written with an indelible pencil. 
In the same pocket in common black pencil was found a short 
will: 

"I, Georg Dean, born in London, England, -25tli day of 
January, 1850. I pray the Masonic order will take charge of 
my effects that may be found on my body or in Nome with 
the exception of all clothing that my companion, Joseph 
Thierry, may need for his benefit, he being the one that has 
rendered us the most assistance in trying to save our lives 
by building a boat out of canvas and willows whicli he found 
ill the swami)s, as \ fVrl that 1 am near the end of this Jii'e, 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST <J7 

I pray that you will icil my \vilV tliat I die a ('lirisiinii, and that 
mv hist prayer is for her and dear ramilw (Joodhve, IViends. 

GEORG DEAN. 

God's will he done. Amen." 

I was one of the pall hearers at the funeral of Geori^- Dean. 
The remains were at the U. S. Jail in Teller. The two sur- 
vivors were quartered at tlie same place. The stronger one of 
the two requested to he allowed to see the remains. The eofifin 
was placed near the outside door of tlie jail and after those 
who wished to view the remains had passed, the wisli of the 
survivor was gratified. He was supported to the side of the 
hody and stood in deep meditation for a few moments. His 
feelings overcame him, and he fell hack into the arms of his 
supporters in a dead faint. The recollection of the terrible 
experience tlie}^ had been through together was more tlian he 
could bear. 

We buried Dean in the little lonely graveyard on the 
hillside near Teller, and, dear reader, I assure you there were 
few dry eyes in that crowd of rough, but good-hearted miners. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE ESKIMO. 

The Eskimo is low and squatty in stature, and very fre- 
quently bow-legged. It is a common theory of the old white 
residents of this country that these people are an off-shoot of 
the Japanese race, changed a little in color by climatic con- 
ditions. In former years, so the old traditions say, Bering- 
Straits were frozen over almost every year. In these times, it 
only happens about once in a decade; the winter of 1900-1 was 
the first time in years that this has been the case. 

The natives of the eastern Siberian coast are even more like 
the Japs than those of Northwestern Alaska. We had Jap- 
anese waiters on board the Thrasher, and one day at Gape 
Prince of Wales, a numl^er of natives came aboard, and we all 
noticed the similarity at once. Some of the Eskimos could 
talk a few words of English. I asked one of them if he knew 
who those fellows were; (piick as a flash he answered, "Japs". 
There really seemed to he a kind of fellow feeling l)etween 
them. 



98 STARVING ON A BED OP GOLD 

The natives of Alaska, like all other peoples, have their good 
and bad traits of character; you very rarely find one who will 
lie or steal; it is said that before the advent of the whites they 
were absolutely perfect in this respect. Again they are gen- 
erous; many a mijier owes his life to the few mouthfuls of 
*' chow-chow" (pronounced cow-cow) which some poor native 
had given him, retaining less for himself than he gave. 
Shortly prior to this writing, a U. S. Commissioner told me that 
an old native — who, by the way, was along with me in Teller 
at the time — had a few days before gone thirty-five miles 
through the most terrible storm Alaska has seen in years to 
get food to keep the former from starving. 

The parents are good to their children, and will deprive 
themselves of food that a child may eat; on the other hand, 
the native, as a rule, is a great beggar. His plaintive whine 
for ''cow-cow" is generally granted by the "sour dough" (old 
resident of the country) and refused by the ''cheechako" (new 
comer.) The former perhaps well remembers the time when 
some native divided his last mess with him; the latter has not 
had that exj)erience yet. 

The native does not know the meaning of the word cleanliness; 
they rarely bathe, and "gray backs" are as thick on them as 
fleas on a California mongrel. Their eglows (native houses) 
are no cleaner. Rancid seal oil seems to permeate everything 
a native owns or has anything to do with. He, himself, reeks 
with it. It seems to come through his skin like beads of per- 
spiration. They never carry a handkerchief, and most of 
them are afflicted with a catarrhal affection; you can imagine 
how disgusting they must be in this respect. Virtue is un- 
known to them. Fear of a beating from her buck or her squaw- 
man sometimes makes a native woman appear virtuous. They 
are a very lazy race; the men never work; the women never, 
when they can help it; the bucks make them do all the work 
that is done, however. Sometimes the men do a little fishing 
or hunting, but the women really do most of that, especially 
fishing. If whisky is the curse of some white men, it is doubly 
so with all the natives. A half-pint bottle of the stuff they 
get for whisky will convert a quiet, peaceable, inoffensive 
native into a demon; he has to be beaten into insensibility 
before he can be arrested. There are stringent laws against 
selling liquor to natives, but juries rarely convict for it; the 




An Eskimo Belle 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST EAST 101 

probabilities aro that lialf the jury have done the same thing 
themselves; whatever tlie reason may be, tlie I'act is, lie gets 
whisky whenever he has ''the price". 

The natives saw their first shij) many years ago. 1 was tohl 
l)y an old fellow who speaks good l-'^nglish, that when they first 
saw it they thonght it was some kind of a watei- animal that 
had made its way to this part of the country; but when they 
saw the wliite men getting out of it tliey rushed for the hills; 
in a short time they sent several of their bravest men to in- 
vestigate; the men came back and reported that tlie strangers 
were evidently white Eskimos from the interior of the 
country somewhere. They further reported that these white 
Eskimos had many strange and beautiful articles that they 
seemed to want to exchange for furs and ivory. When the 
natives found that the new comers were not dangerous they 
came down from the hills to the l)oat. They saw the gaudy 
calico and bright jewelry; they liked the effect of the fire- 
water; they were willing even anxious to trade furs and ivory 
for these things. The ship also had a number of old guns. 
The natives did not understand these at first, Imt, when taught 
their use, they were considered very valuable. The whites 
of course, at first, evinced great reluctance to part with them, 
but when the Eskimo saw how easily the white men could kill 
the walrus and seal he was willing to pay any price in furs. 
The result was that in a week or so the ship was loaded with 
valuable furs and ivory and the poor native had a little cheap 
whisky, some tobacco, a few bolts of calico and some old rusty 
guns. This thing has been repeated with more or less profit 
to the wliite man ever since. 

The Eskimo is of a migratory nature; in the winter he stays 
on the coast where he can cut through the ice and get fish, and 
where the seal and walrus are plentiful ; in the summer he goes 
inland and catches salmon and other game. Eskimos live in 
eglows, which are peculiarly constructed sod houses, during 
their sojourn on the coast; inland, they generally inhabit tents. 
The time is likely to come soon when there will be few Eskimos 
in Northwestern Alaska. A plague, in the nature of our la 
grippe, is taking them off l)y the hundred every year. 

About fifteen or twenty years ago. Captain Gilley left the 
Sandwich Islands in a schooner to trade with the natives of 
Port Clarence and Cape Prince of AVales villages. He dropped 



lOli STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

anchor at the latter place very near the spot where a jiaval . 
engagement of the late Civil War was fought between a Con- 
federate privateer, the Shenandoah, and some armed whaling 
vessels, in which fight the whaling vessels were destroyed. 
About sixty natives came aboard and demanded whisky, which 
he refused to trade to them. They then undertook to take 
the liquor by force. A fight ensued in which eighteen of them 
were killed outright, and a number drowned in getting 
off the boat. This is the biggest fight that has ever 
taken i^lace in this part of the country between the 
natives and whites; three or four years later, at 
the same place, they again became very threatening 
toward the whalers, and Capt. M. J. Healy of a United States 
revenue cutter shelled three villages, but it is not known how 
many, if any, were killed. Since that time Capt. Healy has 
been held in awe by them. Whenever any serious trouble arose 
between natives and whites, Capt. Healy would hold a prelimi- 
nary examination, and if the facts warranted, the culprit was 
taken to St. Michaels to be tried; if not, he was turned loose. 
A few years ago, while Capt. Healy had charge of the revenue 
cutter Bear, a native named Posier beat out the brains of 
his own child. A council of three captains and the missionary 
at Herschel Island decreed that he have one hundred and forty 
lashes, which they gave him. Then they took him from the 
island to the mainland and ordered him to leave the country. 
He came down into Northwestern Alaslva and murdered a 
native family of eight persons; robbed them of their canoes, 
dogs and other valuables and came to Point Barrow. In the 
family that he left for dead, a little girl revived, and was 
picked up by some hunters that were passing. She described 
the murderer and pointed him out. The natives notified Cap- 
tain Healy of what had been done and he ordered them to 
arrest the murderer and have him at Point Barrow when he 
returned next year. Capt. Healy was relieved from duty 
before the next season, but the natives had the dead body of 
Posier there awaiting his return, and it still remains, frozen, 
in an ice house at that place, the natives confidently expecting 
Capt. Healy to return. 

A group of about fifteen Eskimos was taken from near the 
old reindeer station on Port Clarence Bay, my first landing 
place in this section of the country, to the World's Fair at 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 103 

Chicago by Minor Briieo, a trader for the Seattle Hardware 
Company. He had permission to do so from the Government 
Agent, Dr. Sheklon Jackson, and took them on his schooner 
to Seattle, from which place they went overland to Chicago. 
He represented that they were of the royal family, and called 
one of them the Dnke, and another the Princess. They were 
here when I arrived, and I talked with them frequently. They 
are still known by these cognomens; it is interesting to hear 
them tell of their experiences in Chicago. In speaking of all 
the great men they had met back there, they told of Grover 
Cleveland, the Great Chief of the white man, and w^ho, in their 
minds, still occupies that position, and of United States Sena- 
tor Mason of Illinois, the ''ahbiba ahmudluktuk, " (which, 
translated means ''great talker"); they could not remember 
the name of the Senator at first, but imitated his walk (he 
being lame) and said "all same Captain of 'Jeanie' ", whose 
name is Mason. On being asked who was the greatest white 
man they had met they would say "Him, Mr. Healy". He was 
even a greater man with them than Grover Cleveland. 
The natives call the "Bear" the "Healy," and are sadly dis- 
appointed every year when the ship a^Dpears without that cap- 
tain on board. He always distributed the food sent them by 
the U. S. Government, but the natives claim that some of the 
revenue cutters have not always done so since. 

There is a very rich Eskimo near Teller on the Siberian 
Coast. He is a millionaire, the richest man, white or black, 
who resides in this northern country. He has large store- 
houses full of bone, furs and other like commodities. Hun- 
dreds of natives work for him, getting their pay in trade at 
Alaska prices. I am told he sells an immense amount of 
whisky to the natives; if he sells a shipload of ivory and furs, 
the space is soon filled again. His trading station is well 
known by most of the whaling captains. 

The native women on the Siberian side dress differently 
from those on our side; they wear the old fashioned pantalets 
of our grandmothers' time. As you go up the Alaskan shore 
on the Arctic, you find the native in his more primitive state; 
he has seen fewer white men, and does not know the value of 
money; his great desire is to trade. At Point Hope, well 
toward the northern extremity of Alaska, is situated two 
Protestant missions; the Eskimo there is well-to-do, has plenty 



104 STARVING ON A BF:d OF GOLD 

ol' furs, wlialeboue and other trading material; is generous, 
peaceable, and for their race, industrious; there is a whaling 
station here, and he has become slcilled in this business. There 
are very few native settlements between Point Hope and Point 
J^arrow, the most northern piece of land in America, lying 
in about latitude 71 degrees 22 minutes north. The natives 
around Point Barrow seem to be particularly bright fellows. 
They have heard from the whalers so much about the north 
pole that it would not l)e surprising, as well equipped as they 
are for traveling over ice and snow, and as accustomed as they 
are to this work, that some of them should tind that much 
sought object l)efore the white man does; it is said they have 
talked of making an effort in this direction. Would it not be 
poetic justice that the real inhabitants of the bleak northland 
should get the credit of this discovery? True, it might not he 
of any scientific benefit to the world, but there is really not 
much science connected with it after all. From what I have 
seen in the mining districts of Northwestern Alaska, I am in- 
clined to believe that the only thing that will prevent the 
dusky native from being the first to discover the pole, if he 
sees fit to make the effort, will be the circulation of a report in 
this country that there is undoul^tedly a rich deposit of gold 
there. There would surely he an immediate stampede for that 
quarter, and some "sour dough" would reach it. Mr. Eskimo, 
standing on that imaginary spot, would indeed be able to say 
what no other human being ever has said. Time would be 
wiped out so far as it related to him, for time is reckoned by 
noon and he could have no noon while he remained on that 
spot; his compass would not work; three of its main points 
would l)e entirely useless — north, east and west. He would 
not need a compass though, as he could only go south; if he 
sliould lie down on his side across the pole and sleep for 
twelve liours, his head and heels would be just reversed when 
he woke u]). If he should camp on the spot for a year he would 
only liave two days, both of equal length — one of darkness and 
the othei- of liglit. On March the 21st the sun would rise for 
him; at first he would get only a glimpse of it; next day it 
would make a complete circle around him, following the line 
of the horizon. The next, it would descri1)e a little higher 
cii'cle and so on, like a spii-al staircase until June 21st follow- 
ing, when it would begin to retrace its steps downstairs again 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 105 

until September l^lst, when it would disaijpcar altogether until 
the 21st of the succeeding- March. The North Star would be 
right over the fellow's head as he stood on that mystic spot, 
and all of the other stars within the line of his vision during 
that six months of night wo\il;1 circle on a horizontal plane 
around him. 

But the Eskimo need not go so far north to see curious 
astronomical phenomena. I, myself, have seen the sun rise 
and set almost directly in the uorth on June 21st, and the 
length of time it was down did not exceed a few minutes. I 
was camped on a low spot at Port Clarence Bay. If I had gone 
to the top of any nearby mountain it would not have set at 
all to me. On December 21st the converse was true. 

Five miles west of Point Barrow at Cape Smith, is the second 
largest settlement on the Arctic coast; the inhabitants live 
mostly in "knock down" houses brought in l)y the whalers, 
burn coal, and have the ordinary cooking utensils of the 
whites; they live well, have plenty of flour, "black skin" 
(whale meat), walrus, seal, ducks, geese and such other edibles 
as tickle the native palate; they keep all these things in "dug 
outs" or ice houses, thereby having them frozen and fresh the 
year round. You must travel fully three hundred and sixty- 
five miles east of these before you find any more natives. Then 
you come across a race called the Nunatamas, who are fine 
looking Eskimos, fully six feet in height, and in fine propor- 
tion. It is said that the name of this tribe is from Nuna (land) 
and tania (inward), though they live on the coast; it is thought 
that they take this manner of distinguishing themselves from 
the island natives. This tribe is not so large as it used to be; 
before the advent of the missionary, they are said to have 
been accustomed to kill all their children except the oldest boy; 
in fact, I have it on the best authority that it is i)racticed more 
or less today. These people are particularly peaceal)le and 
hard working fellows; they are about the best looking natives 
on the Arctic coast. About one hundred and fifty miles east 
of Herschel is Richards Island; here is found the Cogmulic 
tribe, the largest settlement on the coast, and the most eastern; 
Cogmulic means Eastern native in their language; unlike 
the other tribes of the coast, they ])ractice ])olygamy. Game 
is very abundant in this section. 

If a white man kills one of these natives, thev return the coiU- 



106 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

pliment; if an old one is the victim, then an old white man 
"bites the dust" sooner or later; if a young one, then a young 
white man pays the penalty. 

These fellows are skillful workers in brass, which they get 
from the whalers. Inland, up the McKenzie Eiver about two 
hundred and fifty miles, we find the Ithilic, or Slavey native; 
they are particularly noted for their hunting and trapping; 
they trap a great deal for the Hudson Bay Company; these 
fellows are very small in size, but wiry and full of life and 
vigor; the nearest neighbors of this tribe are what is called 
the "Dogribbed natives," and inhabit the Great Bear Lake 
country and what is known as the Barren Lands; in fact, very 
little is known of any of these natives not living immediately 
on the coast. 

The traditions, superstitions, habits and customs of the 
northern native are most interesting; like their brothers of 
more southern climes, they have their "medicine men"; these 
fellows adopt all manner of methods to compel the others to 
look upon them with awe. I knew of one at Cape York, who 
went out hunting seal one day; he was being watched from the 
shore by the whole population of the native village. Sud- 
denly, they saw the smoke of his gun, and shortly heard the 
report; the doctor fell over as if shot; they all ran toward him, 
])ut just before they reached him, he arose, and waving his 
hands in the air and dancing in a demoniacal manner, informed 
them that he had been shot, but had healed himself; in proof 
of this he showed them that he was covered with fresh blood, 
which he said had come from the wound before he healed it. 
The truth was he had taken a quantity of blood with him when 
he Avent out. 

The natives near the white settlements are fast learning that 
the medicine of the pale face is superior to the fantastic gyra- 
tions of the medicine man. AVhen an Eskimo dies in an eglow 
or tent, it will never be inhabited by people of that race again 
unless the body is taken out through a hole in the roof; they 
are frequently taken outside on the ground or snow to breathe 
their last; they bury their dead on poles about eight feet above 
the ground; the corpse is well wrapped in canvas and other 
covering, and generally deposited in a rough box or coffin; 
every article belonging to the deceased is buried with the body; 
I have seen their gun, kayak, (canoe) oomiak, (big l)()at) and 



OR, THE WORLDS J.ONGKST FAS'i 109 

otlu'i- similar articles lying alongside the box that contained 
tlie remains. The native will never sell or even use, if lie 
knows it, any article so consecrated. Sometimes the wily 
white man contiscates these things for his own use, but he can 
neither sell nor even give any of thi'ni to another native if the 
latter is aware of the theft. I once saw two white men dis- 
puting over the name of some small native relic; they could 
not agree, and, calling u\) a native who stood near, referred the 
matter to him; he took it in his hand and examined it closely, 
then asked where they got it. On being told that it was from 
a native grave he dropped it to the floor as if it had been red 
hot. 

The Eskimo has no method of measuring the time of day; he 
reckons the month l)y the moon. Six months with him is "six 
moons"; distance is computed by "sleeps"; a "slee])" is a 
day's travel, but if the traveler takes sick or is otherwise de- 
layed on the way no allowance is made and the "sleeps" are 
counted from the time he starts until he arrives at his desti- 
nation. If the fellow does not understand enough English to 
say "sleeps" then he will make an appropriate gesture. 

Their story of how day and night originated is interesting. 
They will tell you that centuries ago all this northern country, 
except some mountain highlands in the section now known as 
the Kotzebue Sound region, was under water. ( )ne great chief 
ruled over all the northern Eskimos. He had a grand eglow 
on the top of a high table mountain, which sh)ped gradually 
toward the Arctic Ocean. On the side of this mountain were 
hundreds of snow-covered eglows wherein lived most of 
his subjects. Guards patrolled the regal plateau night and 
day, for it seems that even in those early times the head that 
wore a crown did not rest easily. From time immemorial 
there had hung in the eglow palace of the successive chiefs 
two large golden balls several feet in diameter, but light as 
air. No one knew what they contained, but tradition informed 
them that if they should be broken the peo])le would be scat- 
tered and the ruler would lose his authority; to guard these 
was a part of the duty of the sentinels. One day while the 
chief was down on the shore watching a great walrus hunt, 
two children of the tribe passed the sleeping sentinels, and in 
their childish curiosity entered the royal dwelling; in the dim 
twilight that then pervaded the country, they saw these beau- 



110 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

tiful globes haug'ing from the ceiliiig; it was the work of but 
a few minutes, to get them loose; they rolled them -around in 
the snow near the building for some time without awakening 
the oil-scented guardians. Finally the spheres escaped from 
their control and started down the mountain side; the natives 
saw them bounding by, but could not stop them; a wild scene 
of commotion ensued. When near the bottom of the moun- 
tain the long cherished spheres broke into a thousand pieces, 
and night and day were given forth to the world. At the same 
time a noise like the crack of doom was heard, and the sea 
receding, left all this northern country exposed. The new 
arrivals struggled and fought for many "sleeps," each claim- 
ing the right to rule the countr}^ During all this time the 
elements were badly disturbed; lightning flashed, thunder 
roared, and the waters rolled high; at last, the terrific struggle 
ended in a compromise; it was agreed that each should rule for 
six "moons" beginning with day. Then quiet reigned. The 
natives soon scattered to the new lands, and the old chief lost 
his power. 

Another tradition on the same subject is that while semi- 
darkness covered the country there appeared one day a bird 
resembling our crow; the natives had heard that in some land 
far to the southward there was bright daylight; they asked 
this strange bird if this was true and received an affirmative 
answer; they then implored it to go back to this country and 
supplicate the Great Spirit of that region to grant them the 
same blessing. The crow finally consented, and after many 
"moons" returned with the information that their request was 
partially granted; that henceforth they should have daylight 
at least half the time. 

There is a rugged, dark looking mountain near Kotzebue 
Sound that the natives think is haunted; they will go miles out 
of their way to avoid it; no native lias ever been known to 
scale this elevation. I did not learn what particular kind of an 
evil spirit is supposed to dwell there. At another i)lace in the 
same locality, there is a rough mountain pass which the na- 
tives will tell you is guarded by an immense bird unlike any 
other ever seen in this country. No Eskimo is allowed to pass 
this winged sentinel. 

An article on the Eskimo would be incomplete without some 
mention of the native dog; this creature is to them what the 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 111 

horse is to the outside world; in I'ciet, the white miner ,ot." 
Alaska today could scarcely get along without this animal. 
He might get along without the Eskimo himself, but not his 
canine. Since the great influx from the outside world, jnany 
foreign dogs have been brought in, but they do not take the 
place of the Malamoot or Siwasli; they can not stand the rigors 
of winter very well, and this is the particular time of the year 
they are needed. The foreigner has to be fed even in summer, 
while the other will ''rustle" for himself if necessary. I have 
found this out to my sorrow. My first few months here were 
spent in a tent; when my things were landed from the boat I 
did not get them all under cover the first night. Among the 
articles left out was a box of bacon well bound with iron 
hoops; next morning the thick boards had been gnawed 
through between the bands, and some dog had had a good feed. 
After I got my tent up I used to miss any article of food that 
was left out of the heavy iron bound grub box. One morning 
1 hung a side of bacon to the ridge pole which was very high 
in my tent, and stepped out for a bucket of water, having fas- 
tened the door flap of the tent securely and boarded it up with 
a knock-down rocker I had convenient. When I came back 
the bacon was gone. Being a "cheechako" and not knowing 
the shrewdness of the Malamoot, I laid the theft to some 
human being; it did not seem possible that any animal could 
get the meat, firmly tied and fully seven feet from the ground. 
I hung up another side of bacon, and cut off enough for break- 
fast and dinner. I was about the tent all day, but next morn- 
ing went off a few hundred yards after water again, having 
fastened the tent door this time so well that I was sure no two- 
legged thief in the country could get in short of five minutes 
without cutting the heavy canvas. Imagine my surprise on 
returning with the water to see a contemptible Malamoot dog 
disappearing across the tundra a hundred yards away with my 
bacon; you can rest assured I never hung any more meat there. 
In winter almost all the hauling is done by dog teams; there 
are quite a large number of reindeer here, but they do not seem 
to be half as satisfactory as the former; they will not travel 
when tired, but stand and sulk, and are much troul)le to feed 
and care for. The sagacity of the Eskimo dog is wonderful. 
He both loves and fears his master. Two cases came under 
my immediate notice during the winter I spent in Teller that 



112 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

were tlie talk of the camp for some time. Dr. Tarn aud his 
brother, residents of the town, had gone to tlie Spit, eighteen 
miles away, with their dog team after wood. The thermometer 
was only about 15 degrees below zero, but a heavy wind was 
blowing. When within a mile or so of home the doctor gave 
out; his ])rother covered him up as warm as he could, turned 
the dogs loose from the sled and hurried to town for help. A 
rescuing party soon started out, and after a struggle through 
the rapidly increasing storm, found the lost one unconscious 
but still alive. Beside his body cuddled up as closely as pos- 
sible as if to keep him warm, was one of the faithful dogs; the 
animal at first refused to allow the party to touch his master, 
and only did so after much persuasion. The physician was so 
badly frozen he died the next morning. The dog seemed dis- 
consolate for many days. The other case was even more 
startling. In this the man had also been after wood with a 
team of two dogs; on the way l)ack he felt his fingers getting 
numb and took off his "mits" to rub his hands together. The 
weather was so cold that his hands involuntarily clinched, aud 
he could not get them covered again. He managed, however, 
to unloose the team from the sled, and staggered on toward his 
destination. The dogs, fastened together, left their master 
and ran to Teller. They went to a house where the man had 
frequently visited, and scratched at the door until it was 
o])ened ; then they turned and started back toward the freezing 
man as much as to say, "Follow me," The people did not 
comprehend, and did not follow. The dogs went all the way 
out until they met the object of their solicitation, and jum})ing 
up on him, seemed by their actions to try to tell him what they 
liad done. Then they started off for help again, ra[)ping at 
two other houses, as they had at the first one, and each time 
retuining to meet the man. He finually got to town and 
secured aid l)ut was l)adly frozen. T helped the surgeons to 
amputate both his hands a couple of weeks afterward. 

An ordinary dog on a fair trail will i)ull one hundred and 
fifty ])ounds on a sled. The Eskimos are generally kind to 
their animals. T have seen some white men abuse their dogs 
so badly that they would have been arrested on the spot in 
any of the large cities of '^lie States," for the same acts. 

A great many dogs go mad in this clinuite, but they genei'ally 
seem to want to liite other dogs, and do not often molest Iniman 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST " 113 

beinj^s. I have known, a Malaiiiool doi;' to cause a loss ol" many 
himdrods oi' dollars, as oac-li good work dog is worth from one 
hundred to one linndrod and fifty dollars in tlio winter time. 
Some "leaders" are worth even more than the latter amount. 
The "leader," as the name indicates, is a dog who leads all 
tlie others; he minds the words of eommand well, and will 
"gee" and "haw" as neatly as an ox. 

1 deem it proper in this chapter to say something of tlie 
"s(|uaw man". I did think of writing a se)>arale one on this 
subject, Init it being so closely allied to the matter in hand, and 
liaidly of enough importance for a separate heading, 1 changed 
my mind. I ai)))r(^ach it with some hesitancy, as \ am well 
acquainted with (piite a number of these men, some of whom 
are really good fellows, as the term is generally understood, 
but 1 propose to "hew to the line, let the chips fall where they 
may." It is not my intention to be personal, and I am satis- 
fied it will not be so taken. They are found in almost every 
Indian settlement from Point Barrow on the north to the most 
southern extremity of Alaska. Nearly all the whalers' ofificers 
are in the same boat, and if not called "squaw-men" should 
be so termed. If they do not live with the native women on 
the land they take them with them on the ships during the 
trip and keep them on board during the long winter while the 
vessel is frozen in in the ice. Within a very few miles of the 
town of Teller, where this book is being written, there are at 
least six half-breeds, some of them nearly grown, who claim 
sea captains, married men with white children in "the States" 
as their fathers. As was said in a former chapter, there is no 
such word in the Eskimo language of this country as virtue. 
They have no need of the word as they do not know what it 
means. The sea captains and the regular sijuaw men generally 
feed the squaw a little better than the buck does, and give her 
a little brighter material for her parka or other wearing ap- 
parel. In return she gets the squaw man's wood and water 
and cooks the little "cow-cow" for him. I suppose they, like 
Tennyson's love-sick swain in Locksley Hall, think, "There 
the passions cramped no longer shall have scope and breathing 
space; I will take some savage woman; she shall rear my dusky 
race. ' ' 

When lie returns to his oil-scented cabin or native eglow after 
his day's work at the mine, he finds this dusky face at the 



114 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

door and perhaps two or three half-hreeds, blood relatives of 
his white children at home, hanging by their dirty black hands 
to their mother's parka. "Iron-jointed, snpple-sinewed, they 
shall dive and they shall run; catch the wild goat by the hair, 
and hurl their lances in the sun." 

How proud he must feel of his offspring here! How he must 
love those at home! 

It is a well known fact that nine-tenths of the half-breeds 
die of consumption or like diseases before they are grown. 
God thus seems to put the brand of Cain upon them. 

Most of these men talk the native jargon well. There are 
only about eight hundred words in the tongue as spoken in 
this part of Alaska. There is no alphabet or written language. 
Few, if any white men, understand the simon-pure spoken 
language. What they do talk is a corrupt conglomeration of 
Eskimo and English. The first white men who came to Alaska 
were to some extent excusable for leading such a life. The 
natives would not so readily give them food or other neces- 
saries unless they were one of the tribe, so to speak. I know 
it to be a fact, even today, that the squaw man has much more 
influence over them than anybody else. 

I never heard of any marriage ceremony between these 
people. In fact, so far as I know, the natives have no such 
thing, except that those near missions, who have listened to 
the teaching of the missionary, follow our ceremony. 

It sometimes happens that the "better-half" really loves 
her lover; then, when the time for his return to the south 
comes, and he is perhaps about to go to the other woman, who 
has been, during the years of his absence after a fortune, a 
good, pure, faithful wife to him, there are heartaches and wail- 
ing in the smoke-begrimed eglow, for the poor native woman 
has a heart as well as her white sister. I have known of one 
or two such scenes myself. But the hand of Fate is upon her. 
She, with her numerous progeny, has to return to her tribe 
or relatives, and the squaw-man never sees his quondam wife 
or beloved children again. As a rule, the squaw-man feels in 
his own heart that he lias degraded himself. He seeks the 
compan}" of natives more than he does that of his fellow white 
men. He usually lives at the native viUage, and is apparently 
in all but color, one of them. 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 115 

THE LAMENT OF THE OLD SOUR DOUGH. 



By Sam. C. Dnnhain. 

I've trudged and I've starved and I've frozen 

All over tliis white barren land,— 
Where the sea stretches straight, white and silent. 

Where the timberless white inonntains stand, — 
From the white peaks that gleam in the moonlight, 

Like a garment that graces a soul. 
To the last white sweep of the prairies. 

Where the black shadows brood round the pole. 

(Now, pray don't presume from this prelude 

That a flame of poetical fire 
Is to burst from my brain like a beacon, 

For I've only been tuning my lyre 
To the low sad voice of a singer 

Who's inspired to sing you some facts 
About the improvements in staking 

And the men who mine with an ax.) 

I've panned from Peru to Point Barrow, 

But I never located a claim 
Till I'd fully persuaded my conscience 

That pay dirt pervaded the same; 
And this is the source of my sorrow, 

As you will be forced to agree 
When you learn how relentless Misfortune 

Has dumped all her tailings on me. 

I worked with my partner all summer. 

Cross-cutting a cussed old creek. 
Which we never once thought of locating 

Unless we located the streak; 
And when at the close of the season 

We discovered the creek was a fake 
We also discovered the region 

Had nothing left in it to stake. 



116 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

We traversed the toe-twisting tundra, 

Where reindeer root round for their feed, 
And the hungry Laplanders who herd them 

Devour them before they can breed. 
Here it seems that good (daims might be plenty, 

And we thought we would stake one— i)erliaps; 
But we found to our grief that the gulches 

Were staked in the name of the Lapps. 

A hundred long leagues to the northward, 

O'er the untrodden, sun-burnished snow, 
We struggled, half blinded and half famished. 

To the sea where the staunch whalers go. 
W'^e found there broad beaches of ruby 

And mountains with placers and leads, 
But all, save the sky, was pre-empted 

By salt-water sailors and Swedes. 

Then we climl)ed the cold creeks near a mission 

That is run by the agents of God, 
Who trade Bibles and prayer-books to heathen 

For ivory, sealskins and cod. 
At last we were sure we had struck it, 

But alas! for our hope of reward, — 
The landscape from sea-beach to sky-line 

AVas staked in the name of the Lord! 

We're too slow for the new l)reed of miners, 

Embracing all classes of men, 
Who locate by power of attorney 

And i)rospect their claims with a pen, — 
Who do all their fine work through agents 

And loaf around town with the sports, 
On intimate terms with the lawyers. 

On similar terms with the courts. 

We're scared to submission and silence 
By the men the Government sends 

To force us to keep law and order, 

While they kee]i chiims for their friends, 

And collcci in an indirect manner 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 117 

An exceedingly luii'dciisoinc tax, 
Assumed for a time by the traders 

And tlieu transferred to our ])aeks. 

We liad some liard knocks on tlie Klondike 

From the eub-1 ion's unpadded i)a\vs, 
And suffered some sliocks from liigli license 

And other immutable laws; 
]jut they robbed us by regular schedule, 

So we knew just what to expect, 
While at Nome we're selieduled to struggle 

Until we're financially wrecked. 

I'm sick of the screams of the eagle 

And laws of dishonest design, 
And I 'm going in ({uest of a country 

AVhere a miner can locate a mine; 
So when I've rustled an outfit 

These places will know me no more, 
For I'll try my luck with the Russians 

On the bleak Siberian shore. 



CHAPTER IX. 
ALASKAN SENSE AND NONSENSE. 

It would hardly be expected that there could be any humor 
where there are so many hardships and trials and troubles as 
there are in this northland, but there is considerable of it. 
The average man does not feel like joking or making fun when 
dangers beset him on every hand, but he is very ready to enjoy 
it if someliody else makes it. Like everything else that is 
scarce it is unusually enjoyable when he does come across it. 

This chapter will necessarily be more or less disconnected; 
it is my intention to make it a kind of "pot-pourri" of different 
scenes, incidents and customs that go to make up a miner's 
life on this bleak shore. 

One of the most laughable incidents I have heard of occurred 
in one of the little mining towns near here. A friend of mine, 
*'Dick" Tracy, who had been spending the evening with his 



118 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

mining friends, found liiniself, late at niglit, some distance from 
home, so he thought he would stop at one of the numerous 
''bunk houses" in the camp; the clerk told him to go upstairs 
and take the first room on the right, at the head of the stairs; 
there were several turns in these stairs, and the hour being 
late Dick's mind was not so clear as when he awoke in the 
morning. The result was that he took the first room on the 
left. When he entered the room he saw there was no lamp or 
candle, and he had no matches ; this made no difference to him, 
however. He could see, in the dim moonlight, that somebody 
had gone to bed ahead of him. It very frequently happens 
that entire strangers are compelled to bunk together in this 
country. Dick undressed and retired, noticing as he crawled 
into bed, that the other fellow was right in the middle of the 
couch. After he had located himself on the outer edge 
he gave the fellow a little nudge in the side to remind 
him that he had taken his half out of the middle, but the 
stranger did not budge. Dick gave him another punch in the 
ribs, but this did not awake him. Getting out of patience, He 
waited a few moments, then landed a pugilistic ui)per cut on 
the short ribs; the fellow did not move. Just at this moment 
the door opened, and a man and woman came in; they sat down 
on the sofa in the room, and began a low conversation; Dick 
was at once all attention. Suddenly the lady said, "It's a 
shame for us to sit here talking nonsense when that poor man 
that was frozen to death yesterda}' lies there in l)ed." Dick, 
upon hearing this, gave one jump and landed in the center of 
the floor; the couple thinking the dead had come to life, 
made a rush for the door, closely followed by our mining 
friend. They all tried to get down the narrow staircase at 
once; the result was a broken shoulder for Tracy, and various 
bruises and contusions for the other parties. 

The sunnner after the rich "diggings" were found on the 
world-renowned Anvil and other creeks, the newly appointed 
district judge incurred the displeasure of the mining public 
by ordering a receiver in almost every case where a vaKiable 
mine was in controversy. Two irishmen had been at woi'k for 
some time, sinking a shaft on a claim they had located. One 
day the fellow at tlie windlass felt a jerk on the rope, evidently 
given to atti'act his attention. l'[)on looking down the hole, 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 119 

he heard the voice of his partner from out of tlic ^larkucss call 
out, ''Say, Pat, send down a receiver; I've struck ojold." 

Speaking of courts, reminds me that it wonkl indeed be 
interesting to tlie person who is used to living in a country 
wliere trials are conducted with strict formality to know liow 
these matters are frequently carried on in a mining camp. The 
following from the Klondike Nugget will serve as an illustra- 
tion; the story is al)Solutely true and not overdrawii. T have 
talked with several of the parties who took part in it: 

THE TRIAL OF A POLAR BEARSKIN. 



A Rare Contribution to the Unique in Yukon Literature — 

Graphic Description of the Efforts Made to Prove the 

Ownership of a Robe — The Jury Unable to Reach 

a Determination. 

The following description of a court scene occurring recently 
at Circle City was handed in for publication by a recent arrival 
from that place. The truth of its statements is not vouched for 
by us, though it is by the contributor, and it is publh^L'ed only 
as a contribution to the unique Yukon literature. 

Scene — Court-room; present about fifty residents of Circle, 
Enter U. S. Deputy Marshal; walks up to desk and takes off 
his hat, and everybody else does the same. The Marshal has 
tears in his eyes, and presents the appearance of a man who 
has just lost his grandmother. 

Mar. (in a cracked voice) — "Well, I guess we'll go on with 
this thing now." 

And thus was the now famous Polar Bearskin tried opened. 

Mar.—' ' Mr. Montifield, call the jury. ' ' 

Mr. Montifield reads — "Messrs. AVadleigh, Levante, Hock, 
Burand, Morency and Shropshire." 

The first five answer to their names and take the seats of 
honor to the left of the acting judge. 

Mar. — ' ' Where 's Shropshire ? ' ' 

Mont. — "He'll be here in a minute." 

Mar. — Never mind him, we'll go ahead without hiuh" 
^ Capt. Storey — "If it pleases the court, that's only five 
jurors." 



120 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

Mar. — "Never yoii mind; five's just as good as six; it's none 
of yonr busines.s anyhow." 

31 ar. — "Now, Captain, how abont that bear skin?" 

Storey—' ' What bear skin 1 ' ' 

Mar. — "The one I took from your cabin?" 

Storey — "I don't know anything about it; you took it from 
the Columbia Navigation C*ompany; it was freight in transit 
to Dawson." 

Mar. — "Ntn^er mind that; what I want to know is, wlio owns 
it?" 

Storey — "Look here, Marshal, what am I in this ease any- 
how? Am I the plaintiff, the defendant, or a witness; and I'd 
like to know ))y what right you, a Deputy U. S. Marshal, or 
anyone else has to go to my cabin and take anything out with- 
out any legal measures being taken?" 

Mar. — "I knew you'd kick. You're always kicking; you're 
a regular calamity howler anyway." 

Storey — "That's just what I'm here for; I get paid for 
that." 

Mar.- — "When we take anything we take it, and that's all 
all there is to it." 

Store V — "I know you do; that's just where my kick comes 
in." 

Mar. — "Well, shut up now and tell us who this robe be- 
longs to." 

Storey — "I don't know what robe you're talking about." 

Mar. (getting hot) — "I'll damn soon show you." 

Marshal goes to his office and comes back with a Polar l)ear 
skin rolled and tied with a rope. 

Mar.- — "There's the robe; now who owns it? That's the 
question." 

Voice from the Audience — "Open 'er up, Frank, and let's 
have a look at it. " 

Note — The Marshal at this moment took a notion to inform 
the jury as to the reason they were in court, so he explained it 
as follows: "This case or suit is brought to prove that that 
man French owns this robe. You see he owes the N. A. T. & 
T. Co. $40 or $50 for rent or something and they luive a claim 
against him for that amount. 1 seized the robe for that claim, 
and French now claims that it is not his. Judge Crancc wants 



oil, THE WOKLDS LONGEST FAST 121 

to act fair iu the iiuitter, so Jic is Icttiiii;- iiiu decide tliis tliiug, 
as lie is an interested party. ' ' 

''j\Ii-. ]\lontifield, wliat do you know about tliis robe!" 

Montilield — "I'm snre I can't recognize it to be the robe." 

Mar, — "Didn't you ever see it before!" 

]\lontifield — "J can't say for sure. I'm supposed to be under 
oath, ain't I?" 

Mar. — "Well, 'er yes; you're sup^josed to be, but then it 
ain't necessary to swear you in a case like this, it'll be over 
in a minute. ' ' 

Moutifield — "1 can't swear to that one; I can't say that I 
have ever seen it before." 

Mar. — "French tried to sell you a robe, didn't lie! Tell us 
all about it." 

Montifield — "I went to his cabin and saw a robe there, and 
he asked me if I wanted to buy it, but I can't say that this 
is the robe." 

Storey — "That robe belongs to Scates, and when he went 
to Dawson he gave it to Captain Seigass who entered it as 
freight in transit to Dawson for the Col. Nav. Co. ' ' 

Mar. — "Never mind all that; have you got a receipt from 
Scates r' 

Storey — "No, I don't need one till 1 land the bearskin in 
Dawson. ' ' 

Mar. — "Here, French, what do you know about this robe!" 

French walks out from the audience and eyes the robe 
critically. 

French — "I don't know anything about it." 

Mar. — "Didn't you ever see it before!" 

French — "I don't know." 

Here the jailor and his prisoners poke their heads out of the 
cooler, and the Marshal turns to them with the query of: 

"How's everything in there, Jake!" "(Then turning to 
French) : "What do you know ? ' ' 

French — ' ' Nothing. ' ' 

Mail'.— "Don't you own it!" 

French — "No, sir." 

Mar. — "I think it's yours anyhow." 

French — "That's your privilege, sir." 

Mar. — 'What do you know about this robe!" 

French (with a long face)— "L know nothing." 



122 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

Mar. — "Well, gentlemen of tlie jury, yon have all the evi- 
dence; now we await your decision; who owns this bearskin I" 

Wadleigh (a juror) — "Nobody seems to own it; it don't be- 
long to Scates or Storey or French or you. I'll take it; give 
it to me." 

Levante (another juror) — "Hold on there; we've all got a 
finger in this skin. Let 's play sluff for it. ' ' 

Just about this time the whole court — spectators, acting 
judge and all- — were in danger of going into convulsions from 
continued laughter. 

Mar. — "Well, 3"ou nmst decide. You can go into my office 
and deliberate." 

Storey — "I suppose you're through with me, and as I've got 
work to do, I ask to be excused." 

Mar. — ' ' You can just stay where you are for a few minutes. ' ' 

Storey (hot)— "What am I in this case, anyhow?" 

Mar. — "You're the defendant." 

Storey — "Then as the defendant I move that the case be 
dismissed and the bearskin be returned to where it was taken 
from. ' ' 

Mar. — "We return nothing." 

Storey — "You're right; I never knew you to return anything 
you once laid your hands on." 

The jury files out. During the time the jury is out every- 
body. Marshal, and all, indulge in a smoke. Big Theodore 
Whollers tries to im]iose on the Marshal's good nature by put- 
ting on his hat, liut the Marshal cut him short with the order 
to ' ' Take off your hat ; take off that hat, or give me a cigar. ' ' 

The hat comes off. At this time the Marshal must see his 
prisoners in the cooler so he tries to open_tlie door, but find- 
ing it locked, he pushed in vain. Then he tried to tear off the 
cheesecloth covering; when it was half off the jailer opened the 
door and the voice, of the Marshal was heard asking the same 
old question, "How's things in there, Jake?" To reassure 
himself he went to look, and while he was in there the jury 
returned with their verdict. 

Wadleigh (with a sheet of paper in his hands) — "Whar's 
the judg'el" 

Just then the judge returns. 

"What's your verdict, gentlemen?" 

Wadleigh — "There it is on that paper on the desk." 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 123 

Mar. (exaiiiiuiug paper on botli sides) — "Where is itl" 

Wadleigh— "Here; I'll read it." 

Wadleig-li, as foreman oi' tlie jni-y, then reads: "Circle, May 
4tli, '99, we the nndersigned jurors in the trial of a polar bear 
skin find that it belongs to nobody in particular; so we'll keep 
it for ten days and give the owner a chance to prove his prop- 
erty. If it is still unsettled at the end of that time w^e will 
play sluff and see who gets it for keeps. Signed, F. Wadleigh, 
Charles Levante, A\ Morency, Teddy Hock, Joe ])urand." 

The man who succeeds in Alaska is the fellow commonly 
known as a "hustler". He has a finger in every pie that is 
cut, and grabs as larger a piece as possible; on the other hand, 
the man who sits still with his thumb in his mouth will either 
spend the balance of his days here or go out poor. The first 
mayor of the town of Teller belonged to the former class, and 
the following written for an entertainment in this mining camp 
by Judge Charles Udell, is true in fact as well as amusing: 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TELLER. 



Dedicated to the Founder of the Teller Masonic Club. 

A year ago this icebound coast 
"Was solitude and ice and frost, 
Lone mountains in chill snowpeaks lost. 
White plains by human foot uncrossed. 
Unconscious of the coming host. 

But the Anglo-Saxon was seeking gold — 

The days of the Esquimaux were being told — 

A human tide toward- the northland rolled, 

Undaunted by storm, or famine, or cold. 

For had they not Wilson, Tom Wilson, the bold? 

A city was planned in which to allot 

Space for a home to each brave Argonaut, 

Then like true Saxons they staked, jumped and fought. 

'Twas ruled that each could stake but one spot, 

And Wilson, — well, Tom Wilson, he got a lot! 



124 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

A Council was formed to raise revenue, 
Tlie townlet to eare for, its future to hew, 
And seven were.cliosen, our acts to review — 
Seven wise Solons, all good men and true, 
Tom AVilson, of course, was one of these few. 

Then a mayor was needed to govern the town, 
To levy our taxes and do things up brown, 
And as only one could have that renown, 
All of the others stepped (piietly down, 
And Tom Wilson donned the mayoralty crown. 

Uncle Sam had provided a judge for the place. 
Forgetting that Wilson was in every race. 
The certain result was, of judges, a brace; 
For Tom opened a court with infinite grace, 
And presided o 'er many a lot jumping case. 

But Uncle Sam grew wise from that little light. 
And knowing three postmasters wouldn't look right, 
Messrs. 'Brevig and Morse made haste to alight 
From the Postoffice chairs they were holding down tight, 
And the government asked pardon for its brief oversight. 

But time is short, the subject great, 
The rest but briefly I'll relate; 
How groceries started, large and new, 
And Thomas Wilson started one too; 
Stores for clothing and cap and shoe; 

How each found Wilson a rival too; 
How saloons were opened for mountain dew, 
And how Tom Wilson was right there too; 
How restaurants came where all could chew; 
And Wilson promptly o]iened one too; 

Hotels and lodgings not a few; 

But both found Wilson in the business too. 

Stables on alley and avenue. 

And Wilson at once built stables, too; 

'(icnc Allen his news plant to Teller drew. 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGFJST FAST 125 

But foniul AVilsoii and Ixickcy willi a papci- loo. 
Kief, Rogers and S1('1)1ioiks did real estate too; 
AVliieli eaiised Wilson to stai't in real estate too; 
The lawyers arrived, but they all felt hlne 
When they found "Wilson ]n-aetieed and won eases too; 

How the Koogrock tiger came into view, 
But found Tom with a limit of one and two; 
How ]\reaeham came our souls to subdue. 
But Tom, not content with engaging a pew. 
Started sacred concerts at his place, too. 

Good people of Teller, when you bid life adieu. 
In a large corner of heaven you'll find Wilson too; 
Yet the poets of Teller when their crimes they rue. 
Condemned for bad verses to an eternal stew. 
Will not be all lonely with no one they knew, 
For Tom wouldn't l)e happy unless there too. 

Every miner knows that he can stake twenty acres of un- 
appropriated Government land in Alaska for placer mining 
purposes. The boundaries must be properly marked and also 
the exact location of the claim given on the notice posted on 
the ground, and a copy of which must be filed within ninety 
days with the recorder of the local mining district. In the 
spring of 1901 a native approached the recorder of the Good 
Hope District on the Arctic, with the following for record: 
''I claim Little Eiver; maybe money; may^be not. Octuk, 
Alaska." Another by a white man filed in the Nome country 
was almost as bad. It read as follows: "I locate this (descrip- 
tion of ground) for Ole and me." There was no name signed. 
Some of the natives, however, are much l)rigliter and better 
educated than the one who wrote the location notice just (piote:!. 
The following letter written by an Eskimo is in my possession; 
the handwriting is fair — as good in fact as that of the average 
white man. 

''Penny, July 24, 1900. 

Mr. Billee Langdon: — For you buy some of little rubber 
boots; will come see you soon, Billie, and tell you my mamma 
dead, Sunday, July 22, ]i)0(). Verv trulv,' 

EDDIE KOKBLE." 



126 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

The local courts are kept busy in the winter time with dog 
cases. In the summer these animals are not used frequently 
and are therefore not so much of a "casus belli". The con- 
verse is true of mining suits, six or eight feet of snow puts a 
damper on this class of cases, but the summer crop is numerous. 
There are probably more dogs stolen in winter in Alaska than 
in all the balance of Uncle Sam 's dominions. I was very much 
amused at a case which came under my notice a short time 
since. A tall, gaunt-looking fellow was driving a beautiful 
team of five dogs through the main street of Teller, when 
another fellow about equally matched in size came rushing 
out from a store, and grabbing the front dog, said to the 
driver, "See here, you are the fellow that stole my leader, are 
you?" He at once began to unhitch the animal from the sled; 
we all looked for one of the customary rough and tumble fights. 
But no ! The driver assumed a broad grin, and as the dog was 
))eing led away, sang in plaintive melody to the tune of a popu- 
lar ballad, ' ' Well, I guess I '11 have to get a leader of my own. ' ' 
A short description of winter life in an Arctic mining camp 

may not be uninteresting to the reader. As before stated I spent 
that season of the year during 1900-1 at the celebrated town of 
Teller. The natives say it was the most terrible winter that 
has been known for many years. The thermometer frequently 
went as low as 45 degrees to 50 degrees below zero. This tem- 
perature is as dangerous to life here as 80 degrees below would 
be at Dawson, or any other place where the wind does not 
blow; the snow was from ten to fifteen feet in some parts of 
the camp, thus entirely covering up many of the cabins or 
"shacks" of the miners. The place had sprung up mushroom- 
like late in tlie preceding fall, and there being no wood nearer 
than eighteen miles, and coal being a very scarce and high- 
priced article, the illy-prepared sojourner suffered terribly. 
Not a day passed that from one to a dozen persons were not 
more or less seriously frozen. Four were frozen to death in 
the immediate vicinity of the town. One man froze his hands 
while locking his cabin door. Two or three saloons kei)t a 
hot fire going all the tune, although coal was one hundred 
dollars a ton, and thus furnished places where the freezing 
miner could be somewhat comfortable. They each lost several 
hundred dollars by this kindness, for there was little or no 
money in the pockets of their guests to pay for drinks. The 



OR, THE WORLD'S LON(JEST FAST 127 

men "who s})eiit the winter around these public stoves were 
called ''chair warmers"— stool warmers would l)e more apju'o- 
priate, as chairs are almost an unknown luxury in a mining 
camp. These men hugged the tire through the long, dark, 
winter days, and cussed and discussed the country and its 
hardships. Many a man had nothing but frozen canned beans 
and hard tack all winter. He had no wood or coal some- 
times, even, to warm up the former article of diet. The 
''meals" at the restaurants were from a dollar and a half up. 
A meal consisted of reindeer meat, potatoes, onions and 
canned fruit— rail in a frozen state before being cooked; nothing 
fresh except the breeze that entered every time some muffled 
figure opened the double doors; then a cloud of vapor would 
fill tli-e end of the room, the result of the meeting of the low 
tempered outside air with that of the room. The ice on the 
windows inside would frequently be two or three inches thick. 
The salutation that the new arrival from outdoors frequently 
received was, "Hello, there! Your nose is frozen." This was 
indicated by its marble whiteness. He would rush out, and 
rub some snow over it, thus thawing it out. Sometimes the 
whole face would be as white as a ghost— caused in coming a 
distance of a block perhaps in the freezing cold. The dread 
of the chair warmer was the hour when hunger or the closing 
of the saloon drove him to his ice-lined shack. It seems 
almost impossible that human endurance could withstand the 
cold that these men nightly passed through in their cabins — 
some with few blankets and no robes. 

One of the regular chair warmers came in one morning and 
astounded all tliose sitting around the stove by announcing 
that he had eggs for breakfast. Beans were the regulation 
diet, so all were anxious to know about how he happened to 
get the eggs. "Well," said he, "I will tell you how it was; 
I was in a store yesterday, and the clerk told me that they had 
a few unfrozen eggs. I sold an interest in a claim a few days 
ago, and as I had not tasted eggs for so long I bought half a 
dozen for a dollar. I only had a little wood in the shack, but 
I put it all in my Yukon stove this morning and broke the 
whole half dozen eggs into my frying pan; the wood burned 
out about the time they were cooked on one side; when I 
started to eat them I found they were frozen on the other side. 
My cabin was not any colder than usual, either." 



128 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

A few days after this another man, a real estate agent named 
Stephens, came into the saloon, his fur cap and parka covered 
with ice, and after standing before the fire a few minutes, re- 
marked, ''Well, boys, I opened a can of beans for a change, 
this morning," — he got no further; the continued roars of 
laughter that broke forth drowned all explanations that he 
attempted. 

This same gentleman, at another time, told us that when he 
was in an outfitting store, laying in his supplies preparatory 
to coming to Nome, the clerk asked him what kind of shoe 
wear he wanted — at the same time handing him a pair of 
moccasins to examine. He looked them over a 'few moments, 
and finally asked wliether these were warmer than snowshoes. 
He knows better now. 

Ananias would have held up his hands in horror if he could 
have heard a full-fledged Alaskan liar. I do not know whether 
it is the climate or l)ecause of the great latitude here (71 de- 
grees), but the fact is there are more liars to the square mile 
in this country than in any other place on earth of an equal 
population. Mrs. Rose H. Leech, an Alaska correspondent of 
the Chicago Inter Ocean, once read an interesting essay on the 
subject at a winter entertainment in Teller; it was as follows. 

THE ALASKAN ANANIAS. 

Some wise man has said that there are three classes of liars 
—plain liars, liars and Yukoners. The plain liar is the man 
who lies to protect himself, to please his friends, or to advance 
his interests. The liar lies through spite, malice and envy; 
to work injury upon some luckless individual who has been so 
unfortunate as to incur his displeasure; the amount of harm 
he does in the world is incalculable. His long suit is his ability 
to take the truth, and by a few simple twists of the tongue, so 
distort and change it that its own maternal relative would 
not recognize it when brought face to face with it. 

But the Yukoner! Ah, who can do justice to the skill, the 
grace, the enthusiasm, and the unbounded industry, which he 
displays in this, his chosen vocation. By this, of course, it is 
not meant that all Yukoners are liars; far from it. But when 
a man is a Yukoner and a liar the combination is oiu; that is 
a world beater. This Yukon liar is, as a rule, a lazy mortal; 
he believes in always imtting off until tomorrow what should 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 129 

1)0 (lone today, lint when opporl unity ofters lie can he aroused 
to an effort, which, if otherwise applied, wonld have elevated 
liini to the ])innacle of fame and fortune long ere this. Some- 
where ill the dim and distant past, he has heard that the devil 
is the father of lies, and he has a laudal)le ambition to add to 
Mephisto's large and interesting family. He has also ])een 
told to "tell the truth and slianie the devil," but with a zeal 
incomparable the Yukoner has thus far managed to avoid 
bringing the blush of shame to the countenance of that i-nler of 
the under world. 

He is a genial liar, this Yukoner, and for the ordinary lies 
of life he needs make no effort; they roll from his lips as reg- 
ularly and as smoothly as do compliments from the lii)S of a 
sour dough man in conversation with a cheechako girl. 

It is only when In-ought into conjunction with another sour 
dough liar that the Yukoner is at his l)est. Then indeed are his 
flights of fancy as high as Mount Olymims, and his fluency of 
language unequalled by any save that possessed by the silver- 
tongued AV. J. Bryan. It has always been thought that no 
cheechako could compete with him in the arena of prevarica- 
tion but it now develops that a certain Alaska judge has a 
friend from the outside — the cheechako lady in the sour dough 
camp of Nome — whom he is willing to back against the 
Yukoner any day, feeling confident that the Yukoner would 
be humbled down to the tundra. 

To the Yukoner lies are as beer and skittles, cakes and ale. 
If 'twere possible to condemn him to pass three weeks with- 
out indulging in Muuchausen-like narratives, he would pine 
away and soon be put up on sticks. He doubtless sometimes 
soliloquizes after the following fashion: 

*'To lie or not to lie; that is the question. Whether it is 
easier far to bear the lies and taunts of other sour doughs, or 
to take arms against a score of lies, and by some l)igger lying 
end them." He always decides in the affirmative of course, 
and after such soliloquy mounts his Pegasus with renewed 
ambition. 

Have you been on a hunting trip and killed 100 ptarmigan? 
The Yukoner has many times killed three hundred in a few 
moments. Have you caught forty tom cod in two hours? 
The Yukoner makes you feel that as a disciple of Isaak \Valton 
you are a failure when he assures you he lias caught 400 in 



130 STARVING ON A BED OP GOLD 

the same time. Have you been out mushing and walked from 
Shea's road house to Teller in a day! The Yukoner makes 
you feel what a poor worm of a cheechako you are by telling 
you that he made the trip from Mary's Eglow to Teller and 
from there to Nome in one day. Have you found one and one- 
half cents to the pan on a prospecting trip? The Yukoner has 
found one and one-half dollars. Have you heard that three 
hundred people are on the way from Dawson to Teller? The 
Yukoner tells you that there are three thousand. I have heard 
recently an expression which appears to me to be very appli- 
cable to this propensity of tlie Yukoner; where it came from 
I do not know. It may be a recent arrival from the Bowery, 
or it may have originated in the fertile brain of the young man 
whom I heard use it. It is called, "Peddling the bull." I 
think this expression fills a long felt want, as it were. Instead 
of saying, "Sir, you are a liar; you are lying to me!" one can 
say softly, sweetly, like the whispering of the spring winds 
through the boughs of a pine tree, "Sir, you are a Yukoner! 
You are peddling to me." 

It is not expected that every Tellerite will understand this 
dissertation; those who have lived in Dawson and Nome will 
of course do so, but as yet the Yukoner does not dwell within 
our gates, and it is possible that for that reason some may fail 
to appreciate it. But as "all things come to him who waits" 
we may yet point with pride to our progress, and Teller need 
no longer i=est under the ban of being the only Alaskan town 
of any size without its own bright, particular Yukoner." 

There is a phase of life in the northland to which I intended 
to devote a whole chapter. It is the moral, or rather the im- 
moral side. I have changed my mind, however, and will take 
it up briefly at this time. Morality in nearly all mining camps 
the world over is almost an unknown quantity. The reasons 
for this are manifold. Mining communities are generally made 
up of young or middle-aged men of bold, adventurous spirit, 
who, while generous and good-hearted, were not, even at home, 
particularly^ scrupulous about their morals. There is always 
more or less of a sprinkling of the real desperado present. The 
conditions are all favoral)le to him. The law is not as strict 
as it is in the older connnunities. 

Again, he has more or less of a desire to make a good ap- 
pearance l)efore his relatives and fi'iends, l)nt in a mining 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 131 

camp, especially one so far away as Alaska, lie is a stranger 
among strangers. A miner's money comes easily, and is apt 
to go in tlio same way. There are five saloons to any other 
one class of business. Almost every saloon has from one to a 
aozcii gaiiihling games oj^en night and day. AVitli all restraint 
off, the temptation to drink and gamble is almost irresistible 
as long as the '^])oke" (purse) holds out. The man who 
comes to the dreary noi-thland stakes his life against a fortune, 
and very frequently loses. 

ProbablN' the most potent reason for the laxity of morals in 
a far-awa\- mining cam]) is the absence of the refining influence 
of good women. J do not desire to be understood that there 
are not good women in Alaska, but the ratio of women to men 
is very, very small and the ratio of good women to immoral 
ones is still smaller. 

If a mining claim is of any value at all it is probably worth 
a fortune. The miner who is in possession and thinks his title 
is good will be apt to guard it with his life, after having under- 
gone so many hardships to get it. The laws are loose and 
there is no dearth of excuses for claim "jumping". During 
the mining season, shooting scrapes are of almost daily occur- 
rence. Frequently there are a number of men engaged on 
each side, and a small but deadly battle is the result. 

The sight of a drunken miner with a fat ''poke" is more 
than the cupidity of the desperado can stand, and murders are 
by no means uncommon in the northland. There are compara- 
tively few churches in the country — saloons, dance halls and 
gambling houses are far more plentiful. 

Gentle reader, in conclusion it is just this way: 

WHEN A MAN'S IN ALASKA. 

Of all the insidious. 

Temptations invidious 

Contrived b}" the devil for making men bold, 

There's none more delusive, 

Seductive, obtrusive. 

Than the snare to a man in that land of coarse gold. 

He feels such delightfulness, 

Stay-out-all-nightfulness 

Sure-to-get-tight-fulness, 

1 own it with pain, 



132 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

A bachelor rakishness, 

What-will-you-take-islmess 

None can explain. 

His wife may be beautiful, 

Tender and dutiful, 

'Tis not that her absence 

Would cause him delight: 

But the cursed opportunity, 

Baleful immunity, 

Scatters his scruples as day scatters night. 

The spirit of sportfulness, 

Full-as-a-goatfulness, 

Upset-the-boat-fulness, 

Goes with the gold seeker wherever he be, 

A dare-devil jokefuluess, 

Bet the whole pokefulness. 

So sad to see. 

The girls may be plentiful, 

Social and ventureful, 

He's sure that his family 

Think 's him a saint. 

But the wicked community, 

(lives opportunity. 

To the fellow whose habits are not under restraint. 



CHAPTER X. 
THE DISTRICTS ADJACENT TO NOME AND TELLER. 



When California was acquired by the ITnited States as one 
of the trox)hies of the war with Mexico, the calamity howlers 
sat on their hind legs and wailed more dolefully than a dis- 
consolate Mahimoot dog. They said it was a barren waste of 
rugged mountains and arid plains, the home of sage In-ush 
and cacti, and the habitat of coyotes and grizzly bears. But 
the discovery of gold in California worked a transformation. 
The gold hunters found the most equable climate in Xortli 
America, and a soil of unexcelled fertility. Now grain fields 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 133 

and vast orchards covci- those arid plains, and on the slopes 
of those riig'g'ed mountains one can see tlie largest vineyards 
in the world. California is the home of fifteen hundred 
thousand peoph>, and hei- exports reach every principal ])ort 
of the world. 

When William TI. Seward completed the negotiations for 
the purchase of Alaska, the same doleful dirge was chanted 
by those who saw nothing in Alaska but icebergs and Polar 
l)eai-s. Eventually, fur seals attracted the attention of capi- 
talists and increased their riches. The salmon canners found 
Alaska a profitable field to exploit, but they did not advertise 
their discovery, because competition would lessen their profits. 
It remained for the miner, the true pioneer of civilization, to 
tell the people who paid $7,500,000 for this territory, of Its 
great wealth; that it was habitable, that the opportunities for 
making money and acquiring that competence we all hope 
and strive for, are better here than in any other part of Uncle 
Sam's domain. Gold is not the only mineral in Alaska. There 
are veins of coal of good (juality;- there are quartz ledges show- 
ing copper in profitable quantity; there are deposits of the 
finest graphite; platinum, some pieces weighing an ounce or 
more, have been found. There is an old silver mine between 
Golovin Bay and Norton Sound that was worked by the Rus- 
sians many years ago. There are great belts of good timber 
in Southern Alaska, and better agricultural land in South- 
eastern Alaska than there is ' in some of the New England 
States, and a climate in many places not more severe; plenty 
of game, and fish galore. 

The discovery of gold in Oalifornia and its subsequent de- 
velopment, will l)e paralleled in Alaska. That great range of 
mountains which extends in an almost continuous chain from 
Cape Horn to the Arctic Ocean has proved to be an innnense 
mineral zone. The mysterious laws of nature that have de- 
posited more wealth in some sections of this great zone than 
others, have been lavish with Northwestern Alaska. Except 
in some of the great 1)elts of granite, there is gold everywhere, 
not always in paying quantities, but sometimes in fabulously 
rich deposits. The country has only l)een partially prospected, 
and nothing beyond assays has been done to determine the 
value of the numerous quartz ledges that have been located. 
There are thousands of claims that have never been prospected, 



134 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

aud rich strikes are frequently liearcl of near at hand on ground 
that had been traveled over, and perhaps partially prospected. 
The remote unex])lored territory is extensive, and the nnpros- 
peeted claims are in the ratio of 100 to 1. 

AVhat are the inevitable deductions of these facts! There is 
a field here for men of good health, strength and industry; 
there are opportunities for capital, opportunities for invest- 
ments that will enrich the owner and help develop the country, 
and possibly, chances to loan money and get as much interest 
in a month as could be obtained in a year in some localities. 
But the man who comes here takes his life in his hands, or, 
in other words, stakes his life against a fair chance to make 
a fortune. 

North latitude 64 degrees and o2 minutes, west longtitude 
165 degrees and 30 minutes, on the northern shore of Bering 
Sea, is Nome. A few years ago these treeless shores looked 
bleak and cheerless enough. It was not a place where "every 
prospect pleases," but by chance, gold was discovered, and 
during the summer of 1900 there were fifteen thousand people 
in Nome. The town has some fine buildings, telephone lines, 
a railroad to the mines of Anvil Creek, a water system that 
brings the water five miles from the mountains, and many 
other improvements that belong to a modern city. 

Nome is situated at the mouth of Snake River. No one can 
realize how appropriate the name of this river is until he has 
stood upon some of the mountains overlooking it and viewed 
its sinuous course to the sea. The principal part of Nome is 
east of the river. On the west side is a sandy spit or point, 
covered with tents, dwelling houses, a number of small stores, 
lumber and coal yards. The beach at Nome is 100 feet wide, 
and very high water is 20 feet above mean low water. The 
greatest altitude is the tundra, or flat land, that lies between 
the sea and the mountains. The tundra is a moss-covered 
marsh, full of pools and lagoons. In the dryest part of the 
summer time, one can walk over it dry shod by avoiding the low 
wet spots, but when it rains the "rocky road to Dul)lin" is pref- 
erable. Long hip boots and a courage that does not fear 
violent exercise are indispensable. 

The tundra extends back to the mountains, a distance of 
four or five miles. These mountains are not more than 600 or 
700 feet high, and are covered with the same kind of mossy 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST P^AST 135 

vegetation that i>r()ws on the h)\vhui(ls. The only evidence 
of tinil)er are tiiickets of small willows, perhaps waist higli, 
near the creeks. The counti-y rock is a mica schist, and the 
croppings are very conspicuous. If it is an evidence of age 
to be gray and bald, tlien the hills of Nome l)elong to the 
Paleozoic age. The greatest altitude of these mountains is 
I'eaclied in the Sawtooth range, forty miles to the north. It 
was in this range J had my dreadful experience. This side of 
the range the water flow^s into Bering Sea, and numerous 
streams with their feeders flowing from every compass point 
cut these mountains into queer shapes, so that if one attempts 
to follow a water course to the sea he would have a mazy road. 

The theory has been advanced that in a comparatively recent 
geological period, the earth's axis has been changed by a 
cataclysm. The shifting of the poles converted a warm or 
temperate zone into a frigid region: and made a complete 
change in the forms of vegetable and animal life. In support 
of this theory are found the remains of the mastodon im- 
bedded in fields of Alaskan ice, traces of other animals in- 
digenous to a milder climate, in addition to the geological evi- 
dence in some of the substratas of the earth. The United 
States Geological Survey, we are informed, states that North- 
western Alaska belongs to a much earlier period than any other 
part of the w^estern section of the United States. It possibly 
may be classified as belonging to the lower stratas of the 
Paleozoic age. The tundra has probably been made by the 
receding waters of the ocean. It is known that the waters of 
the Pacific, on the west coast of America, are receding so that 
in the course of a century several feet are added to the shore 
line. In the tundra are found evidences of this in the form 
of driftwood, remains of sea life and the sand stratas of the 
ocean shore. 

In Northwestern Alaska, and i)articularly in the territory 
contiguous to Nome, the mountains are not precipitous, but 
are cut up by numerous streams into a heterogenous mass of 
varying altitudes, the ridges trending in the direction of the 
principal streams. The highest point is thirty-five miles north 
of Nome, Mt. Osborn, in the Sawtooth range, 4800 feet. Geol- 
ogists assert that there is no evidence of glacial disturbance 
in this country, but the sharp edges of float show that the 
action of watei- has not been the ])rinci])al agency in depositing 



136 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

tliis kind of rock where it is found, and the twisted, contorted 
condition of the bedrock and frequent displacement indicate a 
disturl)ing force that can not l)e attrilnited to the numerous 
slides. 

Nome and Teller are situated in one of the greatest mineral 
zones of Northwest Alaska. The country rock, mica schist, 
is frequently found as bedrock, decomposed so that a pick and 
shovel easily removes it. The entire surface of this part of 
the earth, excei)t in the river beds and where rock crops, is 
covered with moss, beneath which there is a very scant alluvial 
deposit. The superstratas of bedrock, which is of varying 
depth, l)ut seldom very deep, are clay and sand. Many quartz 
ledges doubtless exist in this formation but they are covered 
with moss and difficult to find. Those that have been discov- 
ered lay exposed by streams or the sea. 

Between the mineral zones are belts of coarse granite, their 
dark dykes cropping in rugged outline and sharp contrast to 
the light shale of the mineralized part of the country. 

One of the most agreeable surprises to the Nome or Teller 
summer visitor is the climate. He expects to find cold, rainy, 
disagreeable weather, and prepares for it with heavy woolen 
underwear, and outer garments of oilskin and rubber. But he 
finds the ordinary clothing worn in San Francisco and Seattle 
more comfortable. The days are bright and warm and the 
early summer is dry, too dry to please the miners. 

The greatest variation of temperature is probably from 50 
degrees below in winter to 70 degrees above in summer. For 
these places of recent settlement an accurate meteorological 
record can not be given. Such a record would not convey a 
complete idea of the temperature and meteorological condi- 
tions. It is possible for conditions to exist where 50 degrees 
below zero is more comfortable than 30 below in some other 
locality. Besides, simple figures do not tell the story of the 
facts they record; so, if the reader will follow us through the 
seasons we will endeavor to impart the knowledge of experi- 
ence. "All's well that ends well"; so we will begin with 
autumn and end with summer. 

September, and shorter days and colder nights are on picket 
duty for winter; some mornings there are frost and thin ice, 
while l)ack in the mountains heavy snows fall. The wind 
blows, sometimes furiously. The southeast gales swee]) over 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 137 

Bering Sea, and make tlie destructive storms of Nome. Teller, 
being" on a small bay, does not suffer so much. These gales 
usually last two or three days, and are succeeded by a few 
days of fair weather; The wind is unsteady, shifting to all 
points of the compass. The atm()S])here is laden with moisture 
and frequent precipitations result. There are squalls and 
drizzles, but there are calms and sunshine. October differs 
only in temperature, but frequently, the natives tell, there 
have been weeks of splendid weather during these months. 

During the month of November the snow falls thick and 
fast. There is much ice in Bering Sea, and quietly the ice floats 
downward from the north. Some mornings the people of these 
towns awaken and behold this restless sea a silent field of ice. 
Winter is here; the snow blows and drifts and the north wind 
''is a nipping and an eager air." But so gradual has been his 
approach, and so well prepared is everybody that business is 
not suspended nor work impeded to any great extent, except in 
bad winters like the one of 1900-1. The days are short and the 
nights long, Init the great white rol)e of the cold earth pre- 
vents the darkness that otherwise would make the nights 
dreary. Houses are made tight and comfortable. Men with 
dog teams travel over the country, and the ordinary affairs of 
life pursue the even tenor of their way, very much the same 
as in New England or Canada. Some days are very cold, but the 
thermometer in an ordinary winter is frequently and for days 
above zero. And thus the winter passes. 

Spring is heralded by chinooks or warm winds, and, as 
gradually as he approaches, winter departs. The longer and 
warmer days are loosening the icy grip that clasps the earth 
and holds the waters imperceptibly as seen from day to day, 
but surely, as the weeks pass. The ice breaks, forms again, 
and breaks until some fine day in May or June it floats awaj% 
and the rythmical pulsebeats of Bering Sea are heard again. 
The people wait anxiously and look longingly for the first 
steamer that v:ill restore commercial relations with the out- 
side world. They had watched the last outgoing vessel with 
a feeling of isolation, and as the desii'e for a nearer touch of 
the great human family is soon to be realized there is pleasure 
in its contemplation. The spring has passed. 

The summer begins with fine weather. The sun is bright and 
warm and the earth responds to his genial rays l)y sending 



138 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

up grass where the moss lias not protected the frost, and wild 
flowers in astonishing variety and of the most beautiful and 
delicate colors. During the month of June "there is no night; 
what seems so is transition" from twilight to dawn. From 
June until August, Nome and Teller might be seaside resorts. 
The waves of the sea idly lap the shore. AVomen wear white 
shirt waists and screen their faces from the sun with parasols. 
The hills back of these towns are a delightful place for a ramble 
if one loves pretty flowers. The atmosphere is invigorating. 

This is a treeless country. For many miles back into the 
mountains the only evidence of timber is willow thickets on 
the creeks and gulches. These willows attain a height of 
three or four feet. They burn quickly, 1)ut make good fuel, 
and are utilized by miners and prospectors. It is probably 
fifty miles from Nome in the direction of Council City to the 
timber line. The timber one finds here is spruce, big enough 
for cabin logs, but not an inviting field for the lumber industry. 

The great reach of l)are hills and mountains does not make 
the most charming perspective, but an agreeable surprise 
awaits anyone who travels over this country during the month 
of July. He will forget all about the perspective in contem- 
plation of the beauty of his immediate surroundings. The 
moss is a carpet in all shades of brown, and verdant spots 
adorn many places where there are soil and sunshine. The 
flowers are beautiful ; little ones that belong to the daisy family 
are everywhere; forget-me-nots with the richest fragrance, 
adorn the benches and in moist spots the stately fleur de lis 
as they bend v,^itli the breeze, greet the passerby; buttercups 
make one think of the Mikado air ''The flowers that bloom 
in the spring;" but the most beautiful flower of them all is the 
pansy, a wee, delicate thing, hiding its rare beauty near the 
earth and beneath the greater effulgence of its more gorgeous 
sisters. The writer has never seen this little beauty, with its 
delicate blending tints, excei)t in the Santa Cruz mountains, 
C^aliforuia. Jt grows there, but not to greater perfection than 
it does in the hills of Nome and Teller. These are a few of 
the old favorites you can find in this i)art of Alaska, l)ut there 
are many varieties. In a s^jace of ten feet scpiare twenty 
varieties of wild flowers have been gathered. They are not 
of such luxuriant growth as the same varieties in a more teni- 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 139 

perate clime, l)ut the loss in liixiii-iaiice is more llian l)alaii('ed 
l)y tlie gain in delicate coloring and refiiicinent. 

Later in the season the moss is plcntit'nlly s])rinkled with 
salmon berries, and bhieberries ai-c abundant. 

The story of the discovery of gold in lliis section of North- 
western Alaska has been often told and need not be repeated 
here, in 1898, when the first "prospects" were found, it was 
not dreamed that a gold beai-ing area of country extending from 
Norton Bay to the Arctic Ocean and for one hundred miles 
inland from the coast of Bering Sea ever existed. Yet such 
was the case; the developments since that time have amply 
demonstrated the fact that here in this bleak country are 
deposits of gold which for richness and extent have never been 
equalled in the history of gold discoveries. And these do not 
only include placer, but quartz as well. Prospecting for 
quartz may be said to have only been begun, but enough work 
has been accomplished to show the existence of both gold and 
copper ledges, some of which promise to be exceedingly rich 
and valuable. Galena mines in the Fish River country were 
worked years ago, but these have long since been abandoned, 
not because the ledges were exhausted, but because of the 
"slump" in the price of silver and the cost of working these 
mines under the difficult conditions existing at that time. 

As has been stated the placer prospects extend from Norton 
Bay over all Northwestern Alaska. The mining district which 
has hitherto commanded the greatest amount of attention, by 
reason of its discovery and development work, is Cape Nome. 
The fame of Anvil, Snow, Glacier and Dexter Greeks has gone 
abroad. Dozens of others have been added to the list of actual 
producers, besides a large area of rich bench claims in the 
neighborhood of Anvil and Dexter Creeks, and many of which 
have proved phenomenally rich. 

Very little work has been done in the Norton Bay country. 
This section is well watered and wooded, and will undoubtedly 
be added to the list of gold producers. Extensive quartz 
ledges have also been found here, as well as a fine quality of 
coal. 

In the Council City, or Golvin Bay country, a great deal of 
work has been done. There are many promising creeks in this 
section, actual producers, among which may be mentioned 
Ophir, C^rooked, Sweetcake, Elkhorn, Ix'sides scores of others 



140 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

upon which sufficient development work has l)een done to 
establisli the fact that they contain pay. Ophir is a rich creek 
and lias already produced hundreds of thousands of dollars in 
dust. 

Tributary to Council City, Teller and Nome is the great 
Casa de poga country, embracing thousands of creeks and 
river benches. A good deal of prospecting has been done, but 
little actual mining work has been accomplished. 

The origin of the name Nome has never been discussed in 
print. People have speculated about it, and wondered if there 
were natives here who believed in elfs and fairies and gnomes 
and other sprites, and if this particular part of the peninsula 
was the habitat of the gnomes. But the natives are not so 
poetical and imaginative. The gnomes of fairyland are 
strangers to the Eskimo. He is not as sublime as the ''Poor 
Indian who sees God in the cloud and hears Him in the wind. ' ' 
His deities inhabit beavers and wolves. 

The Eskimo equivalent for "No" is "no me"; for "I don't 
know ", " Ka no me. ' ' 

In the earlier days, when there were but few white men on 
the peninsula, a whaler or trader on landing would inquire of 
the natives about something or someone. The answer was 
almost invariably, "no me" or "Ka no me", and these terms 
have been abbreviated into the monosyllable Nome. Hence 
the name. 

Probably, if a California miner had named Nome, following 
the example of those who named Hangtown, Jimtown, Big Oak 
Flat, and other places according to the Indian custom, he 
might have called it Stringtown, because it is strung along the 
beach for several miles. Nome town lots have been staked on 
the shores of the Bering Sea for three miles, and Teller is 
ahiiost as long. During the summer of 1900 there were tents 
five times that distance, and occasional stores, and saloons for 
the accommodation of the miners. At one time, there were 
fifteen thousand people in Nome and all day long the crowd on 
the main street equaUed any seen on the ])rinci[)al thorough- 
fare of a metropolis. 

AVlien navigation closes the town is confined to an area of 
three square miles, and consists of a population of probably 
5000. Considering its age, it is sn})stantially constructed. 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 141 

Tile l)nildings liave been \n\i up for wiiilei- use, and are i)ro- 
vided witli d()ul)le Hooi-s, ceilings and storm doors, 

Nome has two principal streets, First and Second, rnnninj;' 
parallel to the beaeh. Most of the business is conducted on 
First street. The princijial cross street is Steadman Avenue. 
Nearly every important business is represented at Nome. The 
num])er of business houses and offices is not less than 400. 
There is a telephone system connecting the leading business 
houses and the town with the mines on Anvil and Dexter 
creeks. The Nome water company has a pipe line from Anvil 
mountain to Nome, and supplies the town with pure spring- 
water. 

One of the most novel features of Nome, because one would 
hardly expect to find such a thing in this remote region is the 
wild goose railroad. This road is five miles long connecting 
Nome with the Anvil mines. The cheerful whistle of the 
little engine is heard with a feeling of pride and pleasure, as 
a railroad indicates one of the most important steps in the 
development of a country. The growth of Nome from a popu- 
lation of 2500 in the winter of 1899, to 15,000 in 1900, is remark- 
able. Nome has incorporated, being the only incorporated 
town in Alaska. Al)out 300 regular soldiers are stationed 
there, and before incorporation, they afforded police protection. 
But, at no time, has the camp been riotous or unruly. Con- 
sidering the fact that a new mining camp is generally the 
Mecca of many disreputable and hard-case adventurers, the 
town has been remarkably quiet and orderly. 

Nome has four churches, the Catholic, Episcopal, Congrega- 
tional and Presbyterian, and a weekly meeting of Theosophists 
and people interested in that line of thought, is held. There 
is a school and good postal facilities. A large and commodious 
court house has been built for the accommodation of the dis- 
trict court. Considering all circumstances, Nome is an up- 
to-date city, and an illustration of the wonderful enterprise 
and capability of the progressive American. 

A railroad to Teller, which is one of the probabilities of the 
near future, will connect Nome with one of the best harbors 
on the coast, and open up one of the finest mineral countries of 
the world. 

The facts unquestioned by those wdio know anything about 



142 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

the country, tliat there are tlie most extensive gold fields on 
this peninsula ever discovered, and that the country contiguous 
to Nome and Teller is rich with the precious mineral, and will 
not be worked out for many years, presage a future bright 
from a commercial standpoint, and full of promise to all who 
have been fortunate enough to secure interests here. 

Teller is named after United States Senator Teller, the man 
who has done so much for the miners of Alaska in particular, 
and the other member of that craft, wheresoever dispersed 
around the United States. It has the distinction of being the 
most northern town on the American continent. 

Within a month after the first tent was put up, there was a 
population of fully one thousand souls, the result of the wonder- 
ful discoveries on the Bluestone, Krougarock, and other adjoin- 
ing districts. 

Unlike Nome, Teller is founded on a gravel bed. There is 
little or no tundra on the town site. It has a most excellent 
harbor. In fact, there is what might be called an outer and 
an inner harbor, as the town faces both Port Clarence Bay, 
itself well protected, and Grantley Harbor, a smaller body of 
water, tributary to the Bay and a typical haven. Though a 
year younger. Teller bids fair to rival and even outdo Nome 
in growth. It has two wide business streets and is very neatly 
laid out. There were six or eight stores, four hotels and 
seventeen saloons in full blast before the camp was a month 
old. Steps are being taken to incorporate, and no doubt before 
this book goes to press this will have become an accomplished 
fact. 

There had not been a single death from disease in Teller 
u}) to the time I left. This shows that the location is a healthy 
one. It is the key city to the newly discovered gold fields, and 
if they turn out as well as the prospects indicate, the future 
of the camp will be a bright one. 

When a person makes up his mind to go to Alaska, the first 
question that presents itself is what to take along in the way 
of provisions, clothing, etc. All the pamphlets on Alaska con- 
tain a list of the things one should have. Some of these writers 
have never been in Alaska, and the "cheechako" upon his 
arrival here, finds himself provided with a lot of useless truck, 
and unprovided with many things that are necessary. 

Tho best way to ()l)viate this is to bring only such articles as 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 143 

are necessaiy, and bii\- what you need after arriving here. If 
one comes to prospect and mine there is a splendid opportunity 
to get a second service ont of old clothes. Tf one lives in town, 
he should dress as he would in any other civilized and res])ect- 
able coimnunity. But these are matters that can he easily 
settled after lie gets here. 

***** ***** ***** 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 



By Sam C. Dunham. 

I am out upon the ocean, 

Sailing southward to the Sound 
With six hundred busted brothers, 

Kicking hard, but homeward bound. 
There are sixty in the staterooms 

And some eighty souls or so 
Sleeping on the floors and tables, 

While the rest seek sleep below. 

Of the sixty in the cabin 

Only thirty had the stuff, 
While the others came on passes 

Or some other sort of bluff. 
How the hundreds in the steerage 

Got the gold to get them home, 
Always will remain the greatest 

Of the mysteries of Nome. 

There 's a siren from Seattle 

Who is traveling in style, 
Basking in the brilliant sunshine 

Of the purser's dazzling smile. 
She has jumped a first-class stateroom 

That is simply out of sight. 
And has oranges and apples 

With her champagne every night. 

There's a widow with two children 
Who is trying to get home, 



144 STARVING ON A BED OP GOLD 



Having- given up the struggle 

When her husband died at Nome. 
Both her kids exhibit cravings 

For all kinds of fruit and things, 
But they can't get 'nough of either 

To distend their little strings. 

There's a smooth absconding lawyer, 

Wearing diamonds like a sport, 
Who spends all his lucid moments 

Praising Nome's imported court. 
He has beefsteaks in his stateroom, 

Purloined b}^ the pantryman. 
While his clients in the steerage 

Eat cold corn-beef from a can. 

There's a Topkuk sub-receiver 

Who is smuggling like a thief 
All the gold the gang could gobble 

For their late transported chief. 
He indulges in fresh oysters. 

Fine cigars and foreign wines, 
While the man who first staked Topkuk 

Tells us how they robbed his mines. 

There are counts galore from Paris 

And a few of them from Spain, 
Who invaded Nome to traffic; 

But they'll not do so again. 
For they found their debts so heavy 

That they had to leave them there. 
While their unpaid dago valets 

Had to come out on the Bear. 

Late last night they gave a banquet. 
And imposed some heavy fines 

To defray the steward's charges 

For his bummest ])rands of wines. 

All the guests stood the assessment 
AViihout making any kick, 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 145 

But as sooji ns tli(\\- i^'ct soIxm- 
They'll aj^pi-ccintc tlic trick. 

I shall not recount the horrors 

And the terrors of the trip, 
For the same may he imagined 

By all those who know the ship; 
But I'll sim])]y say in closing 

That the most distressing fact 
Tiiat has come to my attention 

Ts the wav tlie ladies act. 



THE END. 



146 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

AFFIDAVIT OF G. P. HALL. 



UNITE]) STATES OF AMERICA, I 

District of Alaska, ( ^^' 



G. P. Hall, being first duly sworn, deposes and says: 

"I know James A. Hall. T first met him on or about July 
12tli, 1900, and on July 15tli, 1900, he started in company with 
Dr. W. T. S Vincent and myself on a three days' trip into the 
mountains near the coast of the Arctic Ocean in search of a 
quartz prospect that Dr. Vincent and 1 had information about. 
On the evening of July 17th, 1900, we were separated from Mr. 
Hall, on the to]) of a high, rough mountain, in a dense fog. 
We expected to ])e back at Teller again within three days after 
we started, so only took provision for that length of time. 

''I know that Mr. Hall did not have as much as three pounds 
of food left when we were separated, and had no compass, 
gun or fishing apparatus. Shortly after we were parted from 
hii.j we were ourselves lost for some time. 

"The day after our separation was a clear, bright one, and 
from the top of that high mountain he could easily have seen 
and mistaken a spit on the Arctic Ocean for one on the Bering 
Sea. 

"Distances are very deceptive in the atmosphere of this 
country. Heavy, cold rain storms began about August 1st, 

1900, and lasted until about the 1st of September, when it 
l)egan snowing. 

"During August, there was one of the heaviest rain storms 
1 have ever seen in my several years in this country. 
"Mr. Hall was clad in summer clothing." 

G. P. HALL. 
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 24th day of July, 

1901. T. G. WILSON, 
Notai'v Pu1)lic in and for the District of Alaska. 



OR, THE WORLDS LONGEST FAST 147 

CERTIFICATE OF ERNEST G. ROGNON, EX-U. S. 

COMMISSIONER. 

Teller, Alaska, Aug. I'O, 1901. 
To Whom It May Concern: 

Tlie ex]H'rieii('e of Jaiiios A. Hall, as related in his book, 
'"Starving on a Bed of Gold," is so remarkable that many 
people will no doubt find it difficult to believe that anyone 
could survive such suffering and hardships and be able to tell 
the story. On August 28tli, 1900, Dr. W. B. Deas brought to 
my office, when I was the U. S. Commissioner at Teller, the 
valise and other personal eif'ects of Mr. Hall, with the reciuest 
that I forward them to his relatives, since there was no doubt 
that Mr. Hall had perished. 1 was here when he was brought 
to Teller, and know that the main facts as narrated l)v him are 
true. ERNEST G. ROGNON, 

Ex.-U. S. Commissionei". 



148 STARVING ON A BED OF GOLD 

AFFIDAVIT OF WILLIAM M. WILSON, OF THE FIRM OF 
"WILSON BROS." 



UNITED STATP]S OF AMERICA, I ^^ 
District of Alaska, f . 



William M. Wilson, being duly sworn, says: 

"1 know James A. Hall and have known him since ahont 
the middle of June, 1900. 

"On Jnly 15th, 1900, he started from the then town of Teller, 
on Port Olarence Bay, Alaska, with two other men, to go on 
a three or fonr days' prospecting trip in the mountains near 
the Arctic Ocean. I })nt np the provisions for him myself. 
He took about three pounds of bacon, a few crackers, a little 
salt and a half-pound can of coffee. He had no firearms nor 
fishing apparatus with him. He was brought directly to our 
house by his rescuers. I did not know him at first, though I 
was so well acquainted with him at old Teller. He was a com- 
])lete skeleton, althougli he had weighed fully 225 pounds when 
he left our store on July 15th. 

"Mr. Hall's reputation for truthfulness is first-class and 
there can be no doubt that he states all the facts just as they 
occurred. It is not doubted in this community, in fact there 
are dozens of witnesses as to the length of time he was lost, 
the amount of food he had with him, the condition of the 
weather he experienced and his phvsical condition when found. 

W. M. WILSON. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 11th dav of October, 
1901. ROBERT M. PRICE, 

Notarv Public for the District of Alaska. 



OR, THE WORLD'S LONGEST FAST 149 

AFFIDAVIT OF THE MAYOR AND POSTMASTER OF 
TELLER, ALASKA. 

UNITED STATES OF AiMEKU^V, \ ^_, 
District of Alaska, ( '" 

Thomas (1. Wilson, being first duly sworn, says: 

"I know James A. Hall and have known him since about the 
middle otMune, 1900. 

On July 15th 1900, he left the then town of Teller, on Port 
Clarence Bay, Alaska, with two other men, to go on a three- 
days' prospecting trip in the mountains, near the Arctic Ocean. 
He took his provisions for the trip from the store of 'Wilson 
Bros.', of which I was one of the proprietors. He took some 
l)acon, crackers, coffee and salt— there not being over three 
pounds of bacon and a very small quantity of crackers. I took 
liini and the two men who accompanied him down to what is 
known as the Government Reindeer Station in my launch, and 
I know he had no firearms or fishing tackle. 

"AVe had all given him up for dead many weeks before he 
was finally brought in to our hotel, in the present town of 
Teller (about seven miles from the town he left) on or about 
September 26th, 1900. He was a strong, healthy man, of about 
225 pounds in weight, and six feet and an inch and a half tall, 
when he started, and when brought into our place on a 
stretcher, was as near a skeleton as it seems possible for a 
living human being to l)e. Though I had known him inti- 
mately before he went on the trip, it was some time before I 
recognized him when In'ought in. It was about a month before 
he could walk across the floor. He stayed at our hotel all the 
terrible winter just passed, and it was predicted by a large 
number of the residents of this town that he would not live 
until spring. The last winter is reported to be the worst one 
that has occurred in this part of Alaska for twenty years. 

T. G. AVILSOX, 

Subscribed ana sworn to before me this 11th day of 
October, A. D. 1901. 

ROBERT M. PRICE, 
Notarv Public in and for the Dit^trict of Alaska. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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